


The Fear I Promised You

by Seth_s_Kiss



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Dark, Delusions, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gen, Haunting, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Major Character Death(s), Manipulative Relationship, Misa and Light have a child, Past Relationship(s), Psychosis, References to Drugs, Separations, Slight OOCness, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seth_s_Kiss/pseuds/Seth_s_Kiss
Summary: Oneshot: Amane Misa wishes to break away from her abusive boyfriend, Yagami Light, while struggling to earn custody of her only child. But she is also quite desperately trying to keep her sanity intact, as eerie occurrences happen around her.DARK AU Fic. Rated M for a reason (psychosis, verbal, emotional, physical abuse, hints of non-con, drugs, suicidal thoughts, gore, death...) Proceed with caution.For the Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020 Event.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: Darker Oneshots 2020





	The Fear I Promised You

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hi there! I’m Seth’s Kiss and I’ve been writing fanfiction for a bit more than three years now. Two quick things to know about me. I adore Manga/Anime series more than life itself, hence most of my writings focus on them; and most (not all, just most) of my fics are dark in nature, because it’s a lot easier for me than writing anything too schmaltzy. Anything else you wish to know about me, just check my profile out, or PM me X3  
> So, this was supposed to be a short, simple oneshot, an entry to an event, ‘Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020’, held this year in hopes of giving the opportunity to as many as possible to forget the mess the world’s in now, if only for a bit, and to have something to look forward to. Alas, writing ‘short and simple’ is alien language to me it seems, given the oneshot I wished to share, turned into a novella, aka a LONG short story. I apologize in advance, I’m sorry T_T
> 
> Warnings: This fanfiction will be rated M as it will contain DARK mature themes (psychosis, verbal, emotional and physical abuse, faint mentions of non-con/rape, drugs/med, suicidal thoughts, blood and a bit of gore, major character death(s)); it gets worse the more you read (or better, for those of you who enjoy stories like these). A lot of references (really, this fic is full of them, I may even need to add a separate A/N), and Fourth Wall Breaking (or at least, something similar to that). If you read, or have read, my other fics, you’ll surely notice that ‘fluff’ is NOT quite my strong point (I’m a bit better at writing in the dark, angst-y, bleak, depressing genre, sorry XP). As usual, if these themes, or anything else, do not appeal to you, either ‘cause it offends you or you are still underage, please, do not read this fic. Thank you.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do NOT own Death Note or its characters, as it all belongs to Tsugumi Ohba (the author) and to Takeshi Obata (the illustrator). I do own everything else (which is just the plot in this case), which all comes from my eccentric imagination. I’d also like to apologize beforehand if ANY of the characters are in any way O.O.C, so please let me know when you believe they are. I mean, I’ll try as hard as I can to keep them in character (as we all attempt to do, right?), but I unfortunately tend to let my writing take over my imagination (true story).
> 
> Official Summary: Oneshot: AU, Misa Amane wishes to break away from Light Yagami, her abusive boyfriend, while struggling to earn custody of her only daughter. But she is also, quite desperately, trying to keep her sanity intact, as incredibly eerie occurrences happen around her... Rated M for a reason (for psychosis, verbal, emotional, physical abuse, mentions of non-con/rape, drugs, suicidal thoughts, gore and major character death(s)). Proceed with caution.  
> ________________________________________  
> An IMMENSE thank you to NekoPantera for not only being my rock and support (when I was on the verge of literally breaking down and giving up), as well as my co-host during this entire event, but for being SUCH a dear, dear and wonderful friend to me for three years now (I LOVE YOU, NEKO-SAN!)  
> A BIG thank you to Potashiamu who kindly took the time to read the first half of this oneshot and give me such generous and incredible advice (Thank you SO much, dear!!)  
> A HUGE thank you also to every single author who was absolutely lovely and generous enough to take part and give our event a moment of their time, and gave so much energy and effort into making this project happen: Alastair, ArgentNoelle, AsgardianHobbit98, Babyvfan, Bewdofchaos, Brenna76, Caldera Valhallis, Count Morningstar, CrimsonRaine87, DancesWithSeatbelts, DemonOfTheFridge, DemonShippingQueen, Desna, Drawingdownthemoon, Elleurs, Ferith12, FreyjaBee, HisagiKirigakure, HoshisamaValmor, Iceburg-sanCPX, Jadeile, Kakashi97, Kamil the Awesome, Karkatsbabe, Kittyface27, KurohimeHaruko, Max333, Nazaki-Sama, NekoPantera, Nissa Fox, PhantomGypsy13, Phoenixreal, Potashiamu, RayeMoon, Rhearenee, Sailor Silver Ladybug, SensiblyTainted, SerenaJones585, SereneCalamity, SesshomaruFreak, Shnuggletea, Sigan, Silirt, Silverstar, Spunky0ne, Starfire93, Tartarun, The Token, TheBadIdeaBears, TsukikoUchu, WhatIDesireEternally, Wrath of Vajra, Xache, Yatsu Narurasuke and Yemi Hikari  
> Keeping in mind to pay close attention to the warnings (our oneshots are more or less dark, in order to fit the event’s themes), if you would kindly please check out their own Halloween oneshots (they’re gradually being posted during the entire month of October, on the daily, so some might not be up yet), as well as their other works, for they’re all very talented writers who have amazing stories.  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/community/Darker-Oneshots-Community/132778/

**ACT I**

_“Remember, a fact is a fact, no matter how hard the liars amongst you might try hushing it up.”  
― **Billy Childish, in ‘** **My Fault’**_

It was way past bedtime for many, toddlers and adults alike. And yet, a child was giggling out loudly, genuinely amused by the gentle snow tumbling down and touching her baby-like face.

She had seen snow only once before. In picture books. She had never _actually_ seen it, in real life. Yet alone felt it. Cue to her utter giddiness and amazement.

She wanted to rush off and dive head first into the piling snow. It looked _SO_ fluffy and soft - cold, cotton candy. She giggled again, looking around in absolute awe.

But rather than run about and do as she pleased, the girl considerately paid mind to the thin, icy fingers gripping her tiny hand, ushering her to follow quick and close under a quickly dimming sky, as they trudged onwards through the unkind freezing air.

It didn’t at all bother the girl however, given she was snuggly kept warm in a bright, quilted jacket, but one look up at her mother’s face and the girl’s entire amusement simply dissipated.

Exhausted and shuddering - as she was barely dressed compared to the daughter - the young blonde woman who was her mother seemed to have only one goal in mind. Walking onwards, in hopes of eventually reaching the convened rendezvous point.

The mother-daughter pair had taken train upon train to get here, leaving the urban side of life behind them in favour of a village, up in the mountains.

And despite how long they had travelled, they still hadn’t reached their destination just yet, the last train station still being too far from where they were meant to go, and it was too late in the night to find any decent cab.

So they had **_walked_** here, all the way. But Amane Misa, drained by the cold, couldn’t for the life of her, share the enthusiastic n’ bundling energy her dearest nine-year-old daughter had. She wish she did though, having this horrid feeling that her sweet child was being left out, ignored. Again.

Teeth clattering as she wrapped her free arm around herself for some semblance of warmth, Misa and her daughter trekked on forward, _finally_ reaching the village in question and passing through the main path.

Misa tried to make themselves as small as possible, while nodding in greeting at a few curious stares, mostly drawn in by the fairly odd sight of a mother-daughter pair out and alone, so late in such a remote place. But the young woman was positive her attire was what drew attention. If not that, then definitely her sunglasses.

The little girl noticed the staring too, but rather than ignoring it like her mother was, she took it upon herself to either pull her tongue or glare darkly, until the villagers opted to look away, either miffed or embarrassed.

But Misa’s daughter couldn’t care less. She absolutely hated it when anyone at all would stare at her mother like that, judging her, badmouthing her, thinking all the worst of her and more... Her mother was **_not_** —

“We’re here,” let out Misa eventually in relief, finally halting in her steps and gasping for air, whereas the little girl, jumping in her little boots, excitedly looked over towards the place they were meant to stay at.

Large blue eyes blinked against the tumbling snow as she slowly took in the chalet-like house. It was beautiful.

And yet Misa’s daughter couldn’t bring herself to like it, at all, taking an instinctive step back. To her, it seemed, or rather felt, colder than the snow itself.

“...Don’t like it,” whispered the little girl unhappily under the breath, but Misa caught that bit.

“The house?” asked the young blonde woman quizzically, gazing down at her frowning child “No worries, baby. It’ll only be us, I promise.”

That seemed to appease the girl, somewhat, as she smiled at her mother, who easily returned the favour, patting her child on the head affectionately, before the pair then made the way up to the front door.

After two loud knocks, it took barely a minute or so for the door to unlock and pry wide open, only to reveal a young woman, about Misa’s age, with shingled, dark hair and greyish eyes, the latter zeroing in on the girl’s mother before they went wide with emotion: “You made it, Misa. I’m _so_ happy you made it, good God.”

As she promptly reached out and brought the young blonde woman in for a hug, the little girl flinched with worry upon seeing her mother stiffen, trying to suppress the vile pain of a body bruised beyond recognition from showing upon her features.

About to intervene, to either have the other woman let her mother go or just shove her away, the girl stilled, and went entirely silent, when grey eyes then shifted their attention over to her: “Hello there, sweetie. You’re absolutely adorable, aren’t you? I love your hair, it’s _so_ pretty!”

There was warmth in the woman’s tone, but Misa’s daughter only gave her a blank expression as she eyed this person from head to toe, before simply dismissing her in favour of gazing up imploringly at her mother with large puppy eyes: “Can we play in the snow now, Mummy?”

“You go ahead, baby,” said Misa, softly indulging her with a tender smile as she pulled away from the other in favour of poking at her daughter on the nose “Mummy needs to talk to her friend a bit. Just don’t wander too far, okay, baby?”

“Yes, Mummy!” replied the girl with a salute before dashing off to a nearby heap of snow and doing _exactly_ what she had wanted to do...and dove in face first, letting out pearls of giggles.

Smiling at her daughter’s antics, Misa then whispered under her breath, careful to remain out of her child’s earshot, while her thin, freezing fingers painfully wrung the lower hem of her ill-adapted-to-current-weather shirt: “Oh, thank you so, so much for doing this, Takada-chan. I- I don’t think I can _ever_ thank you enough, or even repay y-”

“ ** _Rubbish_** ,” jutted in Takada Kiyomi firmly, shaking her head reproachfully for good measure “Don’t even _think_ that, ok? Besides how could I ignore a friend in need? Or turn a blind eye?”

The young dark-haired woman tentatively reached out for the other, wincing a bit when Misa swiftly recoiled, going entirely rigid while her breathing escalated. She looked like a spooked-out deer in headlights. 

Kiyomi remained as still as she could, giving the younger blonde woman the time to collect herself, before trying again, carefully, gently tugging upon Misa’s sunglasses, taking them off.

The young dark-haired woman inhaled sharply then, jaw clenching tight at the sizeable bruise decorating the side of the other’s temple. It was swollen, ugly, unable to decide if it wanted to heal or not; so discoloured, it was between yellow with blue green, and dark red with purple...

With how utterly horrid this looked, Kiyomi simply dared not imagine what she _couldn’t_ see.

“...God, I would _never_ have imagined Yagami-kun to be- would do _that_ ,” muttered Kiyomi, obviously in shock before she bit her lip, her gaze more rueful “I’m _so_ sorry he picked you...”

The dark-haired woman didn’t stop talking there however, adding more apologies and woes, but Misa had disconnected, mind drifting down memory lane after Kiyomi’s very first words.

_“Do you think he’ll-?”_

_“I really don’t know. Oh, but I hope he will. Gosh, he’s so dreamy.”_

_“I know, right?? How can someone look so damn perfect?! I literally can’t...”_

_As Kiyomi and Akino Shiori gushed over the prospect of finally being able to talk to the guy of all their dreams, Misa stayed silent, nervously twirling at a loose strand of hair, eyes straying every now and then over to where Yagami Light stood, waiting in line at the cafeteria._

_The good thing about being in an Open University was the affordability, the accessibility as well as the availability of literally any course one could need in life and didn’t have the time for or simply wished to add to their capacities and knowledge - there were so many students in so many different classes, it was like an educational melting-pot of some sorts._

_And that’s how Misa, Kiyomi and Shiori were lucky to meet, despite all three of them being in separate classes and studying for different courses -_ _Kiyomi was in Business & Management, Shiori was learning about Medical Science, Misa had opted for Arts & Humanities. _

_Despite their differences though, the odd trio, albeit nearly ninety percent of the girls at this Uni all crushed on the one and only Yagami Light. Hard not to. His charisma was just insane._

_“OhMYGODhe’scomingover!!!”_

_Indeed, he was. Shiori had previously managed to ask Sayu, Light’s younger sister - who was taking a course in_ _Education, Childhood & Youth, in hopes of becoming a teacher one day _ _\- if she could talk to her brother for them, and if possible to invent some excuse, literally any, to get him to talk to them._ _They had no clue what she had told him, but apparently it had worked._

_Shiori was having a mini panic attack, hands fluttering aimlessly as she flushed, Kiyomi had gone dark red and unusually still, and Misa... She just couldn’t look away, feeling spellbound._

_“Hello, ladies,” greeted Light smoothly, in a velvet-like tone, a flawless smile to his lips as he appraised each one of them individually, leading all three to be even more flustered._

_How could someone so perfect even be real at all?_

_“H-Hi, Yagami-kun,” replied Shiori tentatively, doing her best to be cute “Nice to meet you.”_

_“Likewise. I hear I was invited to study with you, so here I am.”_

_The three girls blinked, not knowing what to say. So, **that** was the excuse Sayu came up with? They could just about picture Light’s sister mockingly pulling her tongue at them, triumphant. _

_Her brother was studying Psychology. ...How the hell were they to strike a conversation now?_

_Once again, he felt so distant, almost untouchable. At least, that’s what Misa thought, feeling quite foolish for even accepting to take part in this impossible endeavour in the first place. Like, what was she supposed to even say? Everyone at this table was way out of her league..._

_She was just about to collect her things, and discreetly take her leave, when Light reached out for the seat right next to hers, leading their eyes to lock. And Misa lost sight of her intentions, completely._

_“May I?” he asked cordially, gently, his hazel reddish eyes seeking Misa’s blue ones, but she quickly looked away and kept quiet, feeling jittery as her heart sputtered and skipped giddily._

_‘C-Close,’ she thought as she leaned away a bit, feeling as though she was about to faint underneath this person’s impossibly imposing presence. What was it about him that made her so utterly devoured and powerless? It made her feel both hesitant and happy. Was this...love?_

_When the young blonde girl remained as still and as silent as death, causing Light to blink, obviously quite confused, it was Kiyomi who took the initiative to speak up, smiling warmly: “Of course, Yagami-kun! Please, have a seat with us.”_

_“Thank you,” intoned Light charmingly as he sat down, before stapling his hands together on the table and smiling a little wider, showing off teeth this time “So, clearly, **you** all know me. But to whom I owe the pleasure?”_

_“I’m Takada Kiyomi.”_

_“Akino Shiori”_

_“Misa. Amane Misa.”_

_“Nice to meet you.”_

_Those were the words he had easily said. But Light was looking only at Misa as he said them._

Tired, resigned blue eyes refocused on Kiyomi then, as Misa eventually broke away from her recollections: “You know, Takada-cha-”

“Kiyomi.”

“Kiyomi-chan. It’s not your fault, you know,” said Misa, looking off in distance as she spoke, gaze drifting over to where her child played in the snow “None of us could tell what he was.”

“Still,” began Kiyomi, looking a bit frustrated, maybe with herself, before she let out a sigh and set a hand upon the other’s shoulder, tone serious “Listen, Misa. If there’s _anything_ I can do, you’ll let me know, right? I wasn’t there for you before, **_please_** let me here for you now.”

Grateful, Misa smiled sweetly, doing her best to reign in her tears: “Kiyomi-chan, thank you.”

“Ah, I haven’t _done_ anything though.”

“Shut up, you _have_.”

“ _MUMMY_!”

Hearing her little girl’s loud, horrified cry caused Misa’s heart to fly up to her throat in alarm.

_‘Please don’t let it be Light.’_

Snapping her head towards her daughter, she found the latter standing rigid, wide eyes riveted beyond the left side corner of Kiyomi’s house. 

Upon seeing her mother look her way, the nine-year-old girl hastily pointed for Misa to see: “Look, look!”

And so she did, peering over into the falling dark of the night, through the thin wall of snow, trying and failing to see what her daughter had seen: “What is it, baby?”

“There! Can’t you see?”

Bewildered, Kiyomi joined in, looking around in the general direction through squinted eyes: “...I don’t see anything. What did you see, sweetheart?”

Once again, Misa’s nine-year-old daughter just stared blankly at an intrigued Kiyomi, who tried to give the little girl a brighter smile. But the child didn’t return it, narrowing her eyes instead a slight, before running off again.

“Hikari!” called out Misa, a tad of reproach in her tone, but upon seeing that her girl was too busy with the snow again, she glanced back towards her friend with an apologetic expression “I’m so sorry, Kiyomi-chan. She- I- She just-”

“Misa,” cut in the other gently, while Misa began sniffling, though she doubted it was just due to the cold “You’ve both been through A LOT, it’s alright. I’m not upset or anything. Plus, Hikari-chan doesn’t know me. I’d be uneasy at her age too around a stranger.”

Misa could only sigh at both how wrong and yet how right her friend was. Her daughter was uneasy around strangers, very true, but it hadn’t nothing to do with timidity or the like. Hikari didn’t _trust_ people. At all.

Unless they proved themselves to be worthy of trust, they were all on her daughter’s blacklist. A trait she had well inherited from no other than her father.

After a few more friendly exchanges and niceties, Kiyomi easily adopted a serious, business-like attitude appropriately fitting her choice of career: “Now, here are your keys. I’ll be off, leave you two to settle down. The moving truck already stopped here a while ago and brought all of your boxes and suitcases - you’ll find them all in the hallway, and they should all be accounted for, I checked for you. If you need anything at all, you just give me a call, alright?”

“ ** _Thank you_** , Kiyomi-chan. Truly,” sobbed Misa as Kiyomi brought her in for one last hug, before excusing herself - having to leave as it was late already, and she had an early morning.

As Misa waved her friend goodbye and hastily dried her tears with a hand, the other clutching the keys like a lifeline, Hikari popped up beside her mother, staring hard at the retreating lady: “Is Yomi leaving now?”

“ ** _Ki_** yomi-san, baby,” corrected the young woman gently as she quickly ushered for her little girl to come inside to be safe from the cold “You need to be polite when you talk to or about someone. And you _could_ have said ‘hello’, Hikari, baby. She wanted to meet you and say hi.”

The nine-year-old girl blinked while her mother darted over to stand by the nearest heater, as she tried to warm up a bit, before Hikari bit on her lip, muttering: “But we **_don’t_** like Yomi...”

Misa had hopped over to their luggage, rummaging through them for blanket or towel, still shuddering in her bare, flimsy attire, but she halted in her movements at her daughter’s words.

“Your friend doesn’t like her either?” uttered Misa gently, more curious than concerned, and when her daughter nodded, the young woman paused to think a bit, choosing her following words carefully, wisely “See, Kiyomi-chan’s being very, _very_ kind to us, baby girl, I promise. We went to Uni together and all. Look around you. She gave this big, BIG place. **_Just_** for us.”

Listening to her mother and looking around at the inside of the house, near picture perfect and without a thing out of place, Hikari considered it, glancing at the ceiling: “...The three of us?”

Now wrapped up in a big quilt, Misa smiled and walked over to her child, before kneeling till she was at Hikari’s height and took a hold of her hands: “ _Just_ the three of us. Isn’t that nice?”

Misa’s daughter was about to smile, when her gaze was drawn to the battered side of her dear mother’s face, leading her to utter quietly: “...What about Daddy?”

Paling, the young woman couldn’t help but shudder, only it was not because she was freezing.

“Oh, baby. Daddy- Daddy’s not- Well, he...”

Try as she might, Misa couldn’t utter a single sentence, not sure at all how to formulate to her nine-year old child, just _how much_ of a twisted, and harmful, individual Hikari’s father was - though she had an inkling her sweet daughter had alas saw or at least heard a bit too much. What was the young woman supposed to _say_ to her? Or begin to explain...literally _everything_?

_Misa’s head snapped to side as Light straight out and backhanded her without any warning, brown eyes cold, his tone ice: “Again, Misa? Really? And just how many times do I have to tell you this? You absolutely cannot, have NO right to decide-”_

_“She’s a CHILD, Light,” retorted Misa in a quiet voice, regarding him with wide eyes as she cradled her cheek, lip bleeding “You’re the one who has no right to keep her locked in like an animal in a cage. Like some possession, you can gawk at or shove around. You did that to me, I will NOT let you do that to her. And I have **every** right to allow her to go out and play, she-”_

_The young woman almost bit her tongue upon receiving yet another blow, this time straight in her gut, causing her to keel over, her breath just about gone as she choked and coughed hard._

_But he didn’t let her fall down, seizing her by the hair painfully, forcefully, yanking her up to face his now even colder expression, patiently waiting for her to be fully aware of his next words: “Must I really remind you, Misa? You are **nothing** without me. And you can be made nothing again, just as easily—this, you _ **know** _. Do NOT push me. I’ve been lenient enough.”_

_At the awful, undisguised threats, fearful, near pleading blue eyes met his then, leading him to sigh as he reached out to her cup cheek, smoothly ignoring her when she instantly flinched, before leisurely running a thumb across her lower lip, smearing the blood there in a mock semblance of fresh, bright red lipstick._

_“I know it_ **is** _hard for your_ slow _mind to grasp this, so I’ll make it simple for you. **I** make the decisions in this household. ME. And you, Misa dear, you just smile all pretty and nod along. Hikari **will** carry on being home-schooled. And nothing else shall change. Am I being clear?”_

_She didn’t react, didn’t say a word. For what was she to say, when her words meant **nothing**?_

_As Light then pulled her into a hug—one more suffocating than comforting—Misa knew, there and then, that this was_ it _. She couldn’t do this anymore. She needed an out. If only for Hikari._

“Mummy?” 

Hearing her child’s soft voice, the young woman blinked, eyes wide as she was brought back to the present, before refocusing her attention back upon her rather worried-looking daughter: “Yeah, baby?”

“You went _away_ again, Mummy,” she pointed out in a quiet, quivering voice “Please, don’t.”

“Oh, baby,” whispered Misa gently, heart tightening at her dearest daughter’s state of worry, only there in the first place because of no other than herself “Mummy’s not going anywhere.”

Lovely blue eyes _so_ , so much like her own, only so much brighter and larger, gazed up at her: “Promise?”

Reaching for her, the young woman held her daughter in a hug she wished could last forever: “I promise.”

Mindful of her mother’s pain, Hikari held on tight, burying her face in Misa’s neck, while the young woman leaned her head on top of her daughter’s, both indulging in the sweet moment.

The young woman eventually, through reluctantly, pulled away, smiling down lovingly at her only child: “Let’s go check out the rooms, huh, baby? You can pick yours.”

“ _Can_ I?!” beamed Hikari excitedly, elated to see her mother giggle in response, before the girl halted, looking around and blinking “What about all the bags and boxes?”

“We can unpack all of that tomorrow, baby. Let’s rest first. Race ya?” suggested Misa as she pointed over to the stairs, but Hikari was already on her feet, giggling as she took a head start.

0000000000000000000000

The word ‘happiness’ was no longer a word she **_fully_** understood. And it hadn’t taken long for Misa to stop being happy, to stop smiling. All because she naively let pretty Light in her life.

Tapping long, dark red manicured nails against the wooden surface of her work desk, the young blonde woman stared at the dash blinking, on and off, on and off, and rather insistently within her blank Word page. It was like the horrid, _annoying_ , little thing was trying to get her attention, hollering ‘oi, gonna WRITE anytime soon?!’

Well, she most certainly _would_. If she _could_. As a matter of fact, her brain was not as empty as the first page of her forty-second chapter. Rather, her mind was screeching. Screaming at her, cruel words blurring into sentence overlaid on top of each other. But it wasn’t _her_ voice she was hearing.

_“Aw, honey, I know you try, but this is just beyond your understanding.”_

_“Since when does your opinion matter? Just do as you’re told, and everything will be just fine.”_

_“You don’t get it, sweetie, because this way too much for your little, addled brain. Just focus on what you’re good at, hm? Even though it isn’t much.”_

_“How many times do I have to tell you this? Are you ever going to learn?”_

_“Pathetic. Y_ _ou screwed up again. Can’t you do anything right?”_

_“Why won’t you give me your cell phone if you’ve got nothing to hide, hm?”_

_“You don’t need friends. You have me, honey.”_

_“There’s no reason for you to feel this way, like the world revolves around you alone.”_

_“I won’t hear it. If you really loved me, you’d stay here with me instead of going out with your friends. You do not need them.”_

_“I’m sure you put a lot of effort into your makeup, but you better go wash it off before someone besides me sees you.”_

_“By the way, your friends invited you for that girl’s weekend. And I told them you wouldn’t go. I didn’t think it was a good idea for you anyways.”_

_“Don’t you love me? Then why won’t you do what I tell you?_ ”

 _“You won’t like me angry,_ _honey.’_

_“You’d do this for me if you really loved me. On your knees, honey. For me.”_

_“See what you made me do?”_

_“Before I came along you were nothing. Without me, you’ll be nothing again. I mean, look at yourself. Who else would ever want you?”_

_“Who’d listen to you? A junkie pumped up on drugs 24/7 ‘cause she lost her head as a kid?”_

_“Me? Wrong? Oh, honey. You poor thing.”_

_“Did you already forget what happened last time you didn’t listen? Must I remind you?”_

_“Go ahead. No one will ever believe you.”_

_“Don’t even try. You’ll be nothing without me.”_

_“If you don’t want any of that, just do what I tell you, alright?”_

_“Because there’s no telling what I might do.”_

“Misa.”

The young blonde woman froze. **_That_** , had been far too calm, for it to have been _in her head_.

Turning around slow as she shook, terrified blue eyes met cold, ruthless blood red brown. **_Light_**.

Light was here. Light had found her.

_NoNoNoNoNoNONO—_

Unable to question how this was even possible, Misa was in full blown panic, staring petrified at his sinister figure looming in the doorway, his alarmingly calm voice addressing her again: “Thought you could run from me, Misa, did you.”

It didn’t **_even_** come out as a question, like it was so obvious that _attempting_ it was impossible.

In spite of her stifling dread, the young blonde woman had only one thing in her head right now, a higher priority than anything else she could think of in this very given moment.

_RUN._

It didn’t matter where. It didn’t matter how far. Heck, it didn’t matter if she had to get to a different _universe_.

All that mattered, was getting her daughter and herself to safety. Not because Light was a danger to Hikari - well, he _kind of_ was. But because **_Misa_** , was the one in danger.

As if on cue, Light advanced on her, assertive and firmly confident in his step, prompting her to throw herself into a running position, about to make a mad dash for it, right through the study’s extra door.

But unfortunately for her, she had reacted much too late, and poor Misa was unable to hold back a scream when he cruelly seized her by the hair and flung her to the floor, not at all holding back on her.

Immediately scrambling to get back up and get away, Misa was about to clamber to her feet, when a virulent, hard kick to her side robbed her of the integrity of her breath.

And unfortunately for her, it kept her down, spluttering and gasping for air as she clutched her gut, in her searing pain. But she was also down long enough for Light to gain the upper hand.

Desperately trying to get away quickly became desperately and frantically struggling to get him _off_ of her, as he descended upon her then and there, violently pinning her to ground hard, with all of his unfair strength and smothering, dominant oppression.

She yelled. He hit her.

She fought him. He hit her even harder.

She screamed. He ripped her dress to shreds.

She begged. He didn’t listen.

Instead, calm as ever, like this was taking no effort for him at all while she felt like she was fighting for her dear life, Light brushed his lips against Misa’s ear, whispering with deadly softness: “You owe me, Misa. Hikari is mine. Now, _scream for me_.”

Misa threw herself awake, her heart pounding like a hammer as she hastily stifled her scream.

Horrified blue eyes took in her surrounding wildly, darting around to and fro, only to find she was exactly where she had been the day before. In Takada’s house, Hikari sound asleep next to her.

As much as the sight gently quelled her frantic heart, she was in tears, confused, sweating, aghast, shaking, but also _beyond_ relieved it had just been a bad dream.

Light hadn’t found her.

_Yet._

Her beloved daughter, Hikari, was safe. Oh, and she was safe too.

_For now._

Amidst the whirlwind of emotions weighing down her, Misa instantly felt sick, ill, _violated_ , stomach churning violently, prompting her to get up fast and head straight for the bathroom.

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Shakily wiping at the side of her mouth after having emptied her soul down the drain, Misa actually had to take more than a couple of minutes to collect herself. And even when she had, sort of, she was _still_ a shaking mess, beyond troubled by how **_real_** the nightmare had felt to her.

Quickly stifling all those thoughts and shoving them over to the furthest corners of her brain, the young woman washed up, and was then about to exit the bathroom, when her gaze fell upon her beauty case, set harmlessly on the sink, right behind the tap.

More specifically, her eyes were drawn towards a bottle of pills, its white lid popping out. Pills that she knew never helped. Pills which ruined more than helped. Pills, she should have stopped taking, long ago. Pills she most desperately depended on, to forget that she was weak, helpless.

Hating herself as she couldn’t help her hand from shakily reaching out, she then came to a halt, seconds away, as one of the more gentler voices populating her mind called upon her attention.

_“You went away again, Mummy,” she pointed out in a quiet, quivering voice “Please, don’t.”_

_“Oh, baby,” whispered Misa gently, heart tightening at her dearest daughter’s state of worry, only there in the first place because of no other than herself “Mummy’s not going anywhere.”_

_Lovely blue eyes so, so much like her own, only so much brighter and larger, gazed up at her: “Promise?”_

_Reaching for her, the young woman held her daughter in a hug she wished could last forever: “I promise.”_

“Oh, Hikari,” sobbed Misa, knowing she’d be unable to resist the sweet temptation of a peaceful state of mind, Light’s handprints still all over her being, burnt and buried deep within her skin “Please, _please_ forgive Mummy.”

Downing two pills dry before she could think or question it further, the young blonde woman gagged at the unpleasantness of it, before she took a deep breath in and glared at her reflection.

She knew these ‘meds’ well by now - with how long she’d been taking them. Swallowing only a few would not leave her dazed, but it _would_ however soothe her nerves, as well as keep her calm and collected enough to **function**. Numb. She would be blissfully and comfortably **_numb_**.

Sighing at what at the disaster she had become, Misa reset the horrendous, grim lure back down, before heading out and making her way towards the stairs.

But apparently she hadn’t been quiet enough, because Hikari had woken up, yawing adorably as she came ambling towards her mother, arms stretched, demanding a hug.

Smiling, Misa did her best to indulge her, lovingly wrapping her arms around her daughter and enveloping her in a snug hug, and after a few sweet exchanges of ‘good morning’, ‘sleep well’ and ‘how are you’, they both headed downstairs hand in hand, chatting happily.

Mid-way however, Misa stilled completely in her tracks, freezing where she stood, eyes wide.

Confused, Hikari stopped too, still quite a few steps behind, since bigger stairs scared her a bit: “Mummy? Mummy, what’s wrong?”

The little brown-haired girl began to seriously worry when her mother didn’t budge or speak for a quite bit, remaining absolutely petrified, before she finally spoke up, very quietly: “Baby, did you-? Did you wake up in the night?”

“No, Mummy,” replied Hikari just as softly, wide blue eyes blinking up at her beyond distressed and terribly pale mother.

“O-Okay,” stuttered Misa, before her eyes snapped shut as she took a long, deep breath “ _Okay_.”

Wondering what was wrong, Hikari bravely ventured forward, before her eyes too went wide.

Beyond the bottom of the staircase, the hall was a MESS, pure and utter chaos. All their luggage, as well as every single suitcase, and every single cardboard box, all pried opened, belongings flung all over the place. Clothes on the floor, several books tossed barbarically here and there, a few electronics totally damaged, like they had been smashed down as hard as possible...

“Whoa. Messy,” commented Hikari in awe, taking note that most of the stuff was her mother’s, before glancing up at her mother, concerned and confused “...You were you angry, Mummy?”

Those words apparently managed to snap Misa out of her startled stupor, her terror-stricken gaze slowly meeting her daughter’s as she whispered: “I didn’t do any of this, baby.”

At that, Hikari tilted her head, evidently as baffled as much as her mother was frightened: “...Who did then?”

Misa couldn’t answer that. Nor could she find it in her to actually _seek_ the reply to that question.

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It had taken over an hour to fix the clutter, if not more - in fact, Misa was _convinced_ it was more - and in the end, she was finally able to make it all a bit cleaner, by taking their belongings right off of the floor and straight where she wanted them to be, using the furniture already present...

Glad that the place was no longer in shambles and was a bit more presentable, the young blonde woman took a step back, wiping sweat from her brow, before letting a smile to grace her lips. Much better. And now, to never, ever question whatever had caused the mess in the first place.

Carding her fingers through her hair and freeing them from her messed up ponytail as she exited the lounge, she decided to focus on the here and now, on how she and her daughter could go forward from here, and on how she was supposed to gain custody of Hikari...

For the truth was, the odds weren’t at all in her favour, as sad and loath as she was to admit it.

Light had an impeccable façade which only served to offer him an exemplary reputation. With sly wits, charm and money on his side, it was not hard for him to turn the tide of every situation to his favour. He could easily make himself loved and respected. All he needed to do was bat an eyelash, manipulate his way out on top and bribe away his troubles.

And Misa?

Well, not only did she have none of that - apart from her pretty cute looks, but that was moot - her reputation was...questionable at best. And Light knew that, leading Misa to be very worried.

She really wouldn’t put it past him to bring up during the hearing her upbringing, or her past - and present - addiction problem, or her poor level of education... All this wouldn’t make her seem a suitable - or sane - parent enough for Hikari.

The young blonde woman bit down on her lower lip, harder and harder until she tasted blood. She felt like she was losing already. Heck, whenever it came to standing up against him, she’d always lose.

Shaking her thoughts away, Misa silently entered the kitchen and went over to the cupboards and opened one to fish for a mug, before making her way over to the counter and getting a tea bag from the tin box already there on the surface.

Just as she was about to go ready the boiler, she paused, wondering if she should go ahead and make a tea for _her daughter_ as well.

Hikari was currently upstairs, in her future, yet to be furnished bedroom, quite possibly playing. Her daughter was the type of child to occupy herself very easily and let her imagination soar, so she rarely bothered her mother, usually popping up at the best of times when Misa felt alone.

And right now, the young blonde woman felt pretty alone, her mind being the worst company.

Deciding to prepare the hot drink before calling her daughter, Misa went over to the cupboard again, opened it, took out another mug - Hikari’s mug, a bright pink _Hello Kitty_ mug - and went to set it down beside hers. The young woman switched the kettle off as it had come to a boil, before taking a hold of it with one hand, while reaching for another tea bag, for Hikari’s mug.

After pouring the hot water, Misa once again paused, staring at the two mugs steaming with the sweet scent of chamomile tea, to which she had added a generous spoon of honey each.

Something was missing. A third mug, maybe?

Gently smiling, the young woman warmly imagined her daughter peering up at her, and sweetly asking why her mother had forgotten to bring an extra mug for this imaginary friend of hers.

The thing is, while most parents would be bothered by a child this age _still_ having a non-existent friend they often talked to, if not downright disturbed, Misa sort of saw this more as a blessing.

When everything had started going downhill between her and Light, she could barely _be_ there, or even focus on her daughter. To know dear Hikari had never been alone, really reassured her. And so she went along, why wouldn’t she? The young woman had no room to talk, after all - her younger self had some pretty messed up imagination, so really nothing about Hikari’s imaginary friend was cause for concern.

Still smiling, Misa let out a small, soft sigh as she made her way over to get one more mug from the cupboard, opening the door to do so, before turning around. And freezing.

Glancing back at the cupboard with wide eyes, Misa struggled to remember, to understand how come she had had to open the cupboard exactly three times in a row, when she hadn’t closed it.

Not even once.

Breath quickening a tad as she stared, long and hard, at the cupboard as if it had all the answers, the young woman was sincerely unable to understand. Had she closed it on reflex, not paying attention? She could have very well missed it the first time, but not THREE times in a row. Her mind was preoccupied, yeah. She was on medication at the moment, sure. But she wasn’t **_crazy_**!

Hold on, hold on... Maybe the cupboard door was just loose? Upon checking however, Misa found that it wasn’t. Quite the opposite actually, it was very sturdy, as if recently refurbished.

For some reason she was unable to grasp, the young woman felt a wave of rotten dread wash over her, paling a bit. First, their belongings, now the cupboard door. What on earth was going?

Was she overthinking? Tired? Stressed out? Being paranoid? Truly, right now, she didn’t know.

A loud bang all of a sudden resonated within the house, startling Misa straight out of her skin. What on earth was **_that_**?

 _‘It sounded like a door,’_ was what ran through he mind as she hurriedly rushed out of the kitchen after a brief pause _‘A door being slammed.’_

Rather prudently but also careful to not linger, the young woman headed straight upstairs, going directly over to Hikari’s room to check on her daughter.

She anxiously peered beyond the open door, only to find the little darling fully focused on her Lego. It actually seemed like she was building a rather complicated-looking building, and so she barely noticed her mother until the latter addressed her: “Baby, did you just close a door?”

Hikari had instantly perked up at her mother’s voice, with a wide smile, before frowning as the little girl registered the question: “No, Mummy. I thought that was you.”

Not wanting to worry her precious child, Misa quickly nodded absentmindedly at that, before excusing herself, and rushing around to check both floors of the house, going room after room.

Everything that could be considered a door of some kind, be it of a room or a closet, was _open_.

 _‘Since do open doors **slam**?’ _questioned Misa’s agitated mind, as she let out an erratic breath and ran her hands over her face.

Both concerned and exhausted, she attempted to make sense of the oddities occurring, one after the other.

Could it be that she was just imagining it all? It _was_ a possibility. That was a noise - slamming doors - that was a bit...triggering for Misa. It took her back, **_way_** back to when she was a child.

Shivering, the young woman, determined to let her mind roam _anywhere_ but down the darkness of memory lane, decided it was time to refocus her attention on her writing.

What a perfect idea. Writing had always been somewhat of a pacifier for Misa, a moment where she could let loose and be free. She was by no means excellent at it and she had never gotten down to publish anything as of yet, but she really did enjoy it and the peace it would bring her.

Nodding at that, Misa went back over to the kitchen to fetch the tea, thankfully still hot enough, travelled back upstairs to deliver the two mugs to Hikari - she had been right, her daughter was thrilled that her mother hadn’t forgotten the imaginary friend - before taking her own cup over to her room, just next door, and heading over to her desk.

Taking a seat and opening up her laptop, Misa was resolute to leave whatever weirdness all _that_ was far behind her - and blame it on her meds, or the stifling stress, or heck, why not both - and just write away. Maybe she was just in sheer denial, or maybe none of it even happened anyway.

 _‘How come Hikari heard what you did then?’_ whispered her mind to her, but Misa ignored it, opening up her fortieth chapter of her story on Word instead, before starting to type furiously.

_“Writing again?”_

_Misa’s entire body went still, the comforting sound of her fingers clicking away at the keyboard coming to an instant halt, as she inwardly began to panic, frantically trying to recall if she had not forgotten to do what had been asked of her. Or if she should have been doing something else instead._

_And so, the young woman dared not move, and awaited with bated breath, as she heard Light enter and go about the flat, making sure all he had demanded of her had been dealt with - dishes, laundry, ironing, dinner..._

_‘Want to be part of my life?’ he had once asked ‘You’ll do what I say then. Won’t you, Misa?’_

_Satisfied to find everything was the way he wanted it to be, Light made his way over to where she still sat petrified, before he patted her head and moved away, drawling out as he went: “You shouldn’t waste your time on futile things, Misa. We can’t have you tired now, can we?”_

_“Futile? FUTILE?!! Writing is all I have left to keep sane!! Look what you turned me into! What you made me! I’m no more than a doormat, a pet you keep around to do as you please!”_

_“Did you say something, Misa?”_

_Staring at the screen, the words she wished she could scream aloud staring right back at her, as she let out emptily: “No. I didn’t say anything, Light-kun.”_

Blue eyes snapped open as Misa sat upright, terribly confused as she blinked away the sleep. She had nodded off?

Rubbing a hand over her face tiredly, the young blonde woman looked around, fairly surprised to find that it was near evening. Had she really slept as long? God, what was becoming of her?

Sighing at herself as she made to stand up and go check on her daughter, guilty at the thought of leaving Hikari as long by herself, Misa’s gaze was abruptly drawn to the computer screen.

The first thing that easily struck her as entirely odd, was that the screen saver hadn’t activated, as it usually popped up after at least two minutes of inactivity. Unless she had been asleep for two minutes - which couldn’t be possible if the night sky was any indication - it _should_ be on.

The second thing that struck her as odd, was that her hands were nowhere near the keyboard. _And yet_...

Misa’s heart caught in her throat, eyes the size of saucers, entire body rigid where she stood, unable to look away, as letters, words, sentences, were being jotted down on her page. Being typed, fast and efficiently, without anyone **_actually_** _being physically there to type them_.

A glitch? A virus? What on earth-? Her full on brain capacity ceased to function, and her full body went into lockdown, as she gaped, terrified, at what was being written out before her.

‘HE IS IN THE WALLS.’

Over, and over, and **_over_** again. Nonstop. Relentlessly. Frantically. Like a plea. Or a warning.

Acting upon sheer impulse, Misa grabbed her laptop and, with all her strength, smashed it on the floor, breathing loud and hard as she shook horribly, staring unblinkingly at the wreckage.

“Mummy?!” came her child’s voice from the distance, as Hikari ran over to her mother’s bedroom, deep worry across her little features and within her voice “...Mummy, are you ok?”

But Misa was not ok, far from it, barely even registering Hikari’s call, or even her presence as the girl came to stand next to her, taking in the broken laptop before staring up at her mother. 

It was safe to say that the young woman’s mind was reeling at the moment, trying to process, just _WHAT THE HECK_ had just happened?

Messed up luggage? Sure, that could have been her. Cupboards going loopy? Alright, no biggie. Noises without an actual reason for there being one? Whatever, Misa had heard much worse. All of those bizarre happenings, despite having no concrete explanation, had indeed spooked her. Who _wouldn’t_ have been?

But in all honesty? Out of everything that had transpired since the moment she and her daughter set foot in here, this was **_by far_** , the very one thing that had her terrorized. She could still feel - _hear_ \- her heart pounding too hard, too fast. She unable to look away. Or move.

_HE IS IN THE WALLS_. He...is in THE **_WALLS_**? What _on earth_ did those words even _mean_? Who was **_‘he’_**? Better yet, who- _what_ wrote those words on her laptop in the first place?

The more the young woman brought up questions, the more questions she would end up with, the two more pertinent ones being, was she losing her mind? Or was all of this actually **real**? 

Dread vividly ate through a shaking Misa, like vile knives cutting her open from the inside-out. Suddenly being insane sounded so much better.

Little fingers gently held onto her trembling hand, leading the young woman to meet Hikari’s concerned gaze: “Mummy?”

For a moment, her dear mother didn’t react, simply looking her way blankly, before a soft smile touched her drained, gaunt features and she made an effort to sound a tad bit cheerful: “It’s getting a bit late, baby. I think we should both go off to bed, yeah?”

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The main bedroom was shrouded in darkness, apart from the gentle moonlight creeping in from underneath the closed curtains, like a discreet lullaby light. And Hikari, who did not want to leave her mother alone, was fast asleep next to Misa, cosily tucked in within the duvet and several covers in order to keep the cold away.

 _Misa_ , on the other hand, was unable to sleep just yet - what with the eventful day leaving her in a horrid state turmoil - tossed and turned around, before finally _getting_ comfortable. A bit...

Sighing quietly, the young woman rearranged the covers around her, and was just about to relax, put it all behind her and close her eyes, when the door to her room made a quiet creaking noise.

Misa stilled.

It was too dark for her to see much, but since she was facing the door, she noted nothing strange.

That was till the door opened a slight, repeating the same soft, and now unsettling, creaky noise.

Again, it was far too dark to actually make out anything, and Misa could have as well imagined it, what with being distraught and all. Plus, it wasn’t as if she could **_really_** tell if the door had-

It took **_every_** fibre of her being to not let out a scream there and then, when what looked like a head, little by little, careened itself round the now faintly ajar state of the door, gradually protruding like a lump of dimmer darkness amidst the obscurity of the deathly quiet room.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, couldn’t talk, couldn’t scream. And _GOD_ , did she want to.

But the young woman genuinely couldn’t.

And why was that? Her body was paralyzed. From head to toe, she couldn’t move a single muscle, only able to blink. Even **_breathing_** was becoming a struggle, since she had like this incredible weight press her down into the mattress. All too similar to sleep paralysis actually.

Wait. _Sleep paralysis_? So, she was **_sleeping_** then? And she was _aware_ of this. She knew of it. So, maybe... None of this was real? Should she just close her eyes then, and wish it all away?

Holding her breath, the young woman snapped her eyes shut for a bit, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, and slowly counted down from four to zero, before tentatively reopening an eye.

It was still there.

And even worse? At the moment, it _literally_ looked like it was staring directly in **her** direction. A staring, faceless face, eyeing her closely, with what she could only describe as ill, vile and sinister intent. Almost like it was _waiting_ for her to move, to either disappear. Or pounce on her.

But, for some reason which was beyond her, the harder she willed her body to budge, even a by bit, the more she found herself being swallowed by the confines of the bed she was in, shoved down more and more as she steadily sunk in deeper and deeper. The absolute dread Misa was in was nerve-wracking, heart-stopping. Someone else would have a heart attack by now.

Wasn’t her mind just playing tricks on her? If Misa was genuinely asleep, could someone, anyone _please_ wake her up NOW?

Hold on, was this _actually_ real then? Like for real? What now? ...What if it came after Hikari?

At the idea of this **_thing_** shifting its attention to her baby girl asleep behind her, Misa’s blood swiftly ran cold: _‘Not my daughter! Anything but my baby girl!’_

By some miracle she dared not question, the lump slipped away suddenly, vanishing behind the door again, before it slowly clicked closed once more, like it had never even been opened.

Letting out an erratic breath, Misa, barely even registering that she could actually move again, shakily got to her feet, headed straight for the door warily doing so, before she went to lock it. Better safe than sorry. 

Only it was already locked. Feeling as if her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour, the young woman trembled, a half second away from having a meltdown. **_What_** was happening? **_Why_** was this happening?

More than anything right now, she _really_ wanted to, **_HAD TO_** believe that she had imagined it. _Everything_ that was occurring in these walls, was all _in her head_ , either due to the stress, or the drugs. Light was right. She was a junkie who _lost_ her mind. And _desperately_ needed help.

Turning around to head back to bed, poor Misa nearly jumped out of her skin to find Hikari, seated up rigidly in bed, large eyes drawn into a narrowed stare, trained right upon the door: “Mummy? Did you just see someone at the door too?”

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It had taken all of Misa’s willpower to keep up a front of **_absolute_** normality and calm for the sake of her daughter, gingerly ushering Hikari back to sleep while sitting by her side. _Waiting_.

And no sooner had her darling child fallen back into a slumber, she all but ran for the adjoined bathroom, leaving the door half-open behind her, before heading to the farthest corner possible - keeping to a spot where she could still see Hikari, but hopefully not be overheard by the latter.

Mobile phone within shaking hands, Misa hurriedly dialled for a number, before holding it up to her ear, nervously awaiting the reply.

_“It’s three in the goddamn morning. Unless it’s some scoop I can work with, what kind of shitty person would **actually** -?” _

The relief that ran through her then, when the person at the other end of the line **_finally_** picked up after what felt like forever, had the young blonde woman burst into tears.

“K-Kiyomi-chan! _Thank Heavens_ , you answered!!”

A significant pause met Misa, before the other woman eventually spoke up, her voice thick with sleep and apparent bewilderment: _“...Misa? What’s going on?”_

“Kiyomi-chan,” choked out Misa in between sobs and gasps, like she was on the verge of hyperventilating “I’m _scared_. Scared for Hikari, Kiyomi-chan. We’re **NOT** safe, so _please_ -”

_“Hold on, honey, hold on, what-?”_

“Please, help us, please!” pleaded Misa, cutting the other off in her desperation “There’s- In the house- Your house, Kiyomi-chan, there’s like- Strange, s- _scary_ things happening. The d-doors. Slamming, without c-c-closing. And all of our belongings, m-made a mess. Thrown, b-broken, everywhere. And- And my laptop _writing_! All by _itself_!! And just now, a sh- _shadow_ , a **_ghost_** -”

_“Wait, wait,_ wait _,”_ interjected Kiyomi in turn, tone stiff _“My house is not HAUNTED, Misa.”_

At those words, heavily tinted with scepticism and what she could clearly make out as vexation, the young blonde woman stilled: “But-”

_“Don’t be ridiculous, Misa. Come on, REALLY? Are you even listening to yourself right now?”_

“ ** _But_** -”

 _“It ISN’T,”_ asserted Kiyomi with curt firmness, sounding even more and more offended with every word, leading to Misa feeling guilty _“That’s really not a nice thing to say, you know?”_

“Kiyomi-cha-”

_“Honestly? After all I’ve done for you? I didn’t even HAVE TO do it, Misa, yet I did. For you.”_

“Kiyomi-”

 _“I put my neck on the line, for_ YOU _! If Light finds out, I’ll be in trouble too! Do you know what he_ **did** _to me the last time I came looking for you, years ago?! I took a **huge** risk here, Misa!!”_

“Kiyo-”

_“And THIS, is the thanks I get, huh? You saying that MY house, is FREAKING HAUNTED??!!”_

“Ki-”

_“You’re a mess! A failure! And worse of all, a bad mother! If you **love** your daughter, cut down on those fucking meds, why don’t ya, you bleeding junkie! Or better yet, go off to a shrink!!!”_

Having shouted those words at the top of her lungs, Kiyomi then hung up there and then, leaving Misa staring at the phone, speechless and in shock, while the dial eerily rang right back at her.

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From where she was seated at the kitchen table, swinging her legs to and fro, little Hikari quietly stared at her mother, observing but not saying anything, as she ate her cereal, and Misa cooked.

It was the next morning, but Hikari had the impression her mother hadn’t slept the night before, if the dark circles underneath her eyes were of any indication, along with her jerky movements.

The nine-year-old girl was both rather bright and pretty observant for her age - gifts she had been told she had inherited from her father. And those “gifts” were telling her, in spite of the fact her dearest mother was acting as if nothing was bothering her, something **_was_** plaguing her. Terribly. Dramatically. Alarmingly so even.

But the little girl knew better than to ask. Her mother wouldn’t reply. Misa tried to _never_ involve her in whatever wicked issues she had, doing her best in keeping her in the dark. Out of love. Out of the _unconditional_ love her mother had for her, and with which Misa would do **whatever** she could to protect her with all she had and was.

Hikari frowned a bit, head tilting as she attempted to process the one thing she had yet to grasp.

She was not as oblivious and carefree as she’d made herself to be, and so she was aware of what kind of person her father was. What he would do - did - to her mother, when they thought Hikari couldn’t hear. It had started well before she had been born, she knew, could tell. And it had only gotten steadily worse over the years, up to the point where Misa was a shell of herself. If anything, the nine-year old couldn’t be more overjoyed that her mother **_finally_** had had to courage to leave him - from what Hikari knew, someone encouraged her to also, so however it was she would have to thank them, one day...

The little girl frowned further, pulling one of her long, light auburn pigtails up into her field of vision, before glaring at it. She had always hated her hair. ...It looked _nothing_ like her mother’s.

So, if _she_ couldn’t stop despising her father - Hikari wasn’t even **trying** not to - how could her mother love her so much, a child that was as much his as hers? How did her mother even do it?

Noticing her mother approaching, Hikari let go of her hair and lifted her gaze to meet similar, familiar blue - at least she had mother’s eyes, for that she was really grateful - before beaming.

Misa immediately returned the favour, even though her smile, alas, didn’t reach her tired eyes. Her gaze then dropped the plate she had set on the table, Hikari's curiously staring at it too.

“Baby, I- I tried to make you a cake,” whispered Misa, her voice think with emotion, like she was about to tear up “But I _completely_ messed up. And now- It’s just a plate of mashed biscuits, chocolate and marshmallows. I’m _so_ sorry, baby.”

It was safe to assume - if not outright say - this was _definitely_ not her mother’s week, in **any** shape or form. It gotten worse and _worse_ , up to the point where she could no longer ‘cook’.

But to be fair, all Hikari saw was sugary goodness, so she couldn’t care less how messy it was.

“Looks YUMMY,” the little girl intoned in awe as she reached out slow to prod at the chaos of sugariness, before smiling wide and bright in her mother’s direction “Thank you, M—Mummy?!”

To say Hikari was horrified would be a poor understatement, as she looked up with wide eyes to witness crystal clear tears dripping down her mother’s cheeks, silently tumbling down.

“...Why are you cryin’, Mummy?”

Apparently realizing that she was doing just that no sooner than when Hikari mentioned it, Misa was quick to look away, furiously wiping at her eyes with her sleeve as she muttered: “Light’s right. Heck, even Kiyomi-chan’s right. I’m a mess. I’m a failure. I’m a bad mother.”

But regrettably for the young woman, her dear daughter had heard her. _Rather_ loud and clear.

“No, NO!!” cried out Hikari, aghast and scandalized “Mummy’s the BEST mummy there is!”

“Oh, baby-”

“But you _REALLY_ are!” declared the little girl resolutely, like absolutely NO other reality was possible for her, her baby blue eyes wide “I _know_ you care for me. And I do too. So, so much. I can’t imagine a world without you, Mummy. I wanna be with you forever. I love you.”

Not waiting for a response or reaction, Hikari got up and jumped onto her mother like a koala, before hugging her with all of her little might as she whispered softly: “ ** _Love_** you, Mummy.”

Moved beyond words, Misa immediately returned the hug just as fiercely, uttering tearfully, but lovingly: “Oh, I **love** you too, baby! So _freaking_ much, baby.”

 _‘I know,’_ thought Hikari with a warm, sad smile, tears pricking at the corner of eyes which she was fast to chase away, refusing to let her mother know of them _‘I know. But I wish you didn’t.’_

0000000000000000000000

After indulging in their mother-daughter moment, letting the hug last to their hearts’ content, the pair decided to spend some time together, with Hikari suggesting they watch a fun movie, just the two of them.

Misa immediately agreed, much to her daughter’s delight, and that’s how the two of them were now buried in cushions up within the main bedroom, with _Tokyo MewMew_ rolling on the telly, and the plate of mashed sugary stuff that they nibbled on, set in between them.

But Hikari swiftly found that her mother wasn’t paying any attention **_at all_** , worried and wary eyes either straying towards the door every now and then, or simply staring at it unblinkingly. It _was_ locked - a simple precaution, her mother had explained with a gentle, reassuring smile. But in spite of that, her mother was tense and on guard, as though awaiting the absolute worst.

Her father, and many others, would often call Misa’s vigilance nonsense. Paranoia. Psychosis.

Words Hikari would hear, but not fully understand the concept of. Just that those words sounded harmful. Vile. Wrong.

Again, the girl didn’t say anything. But she was fairly concerned for her mother’s wellbeing, hating the utter nightmare devoid of any hope – minus Hikari herself who Misa would constantly refer to as her light within this world – which was now Misa’s life. Even more so, ever since they had set foot in this rotten house. 

Hikari **_hated_** it here. It was only hurting her mother _more_. This house was **just** like her father, she summarized. Detrimental. Nefarious. Evil.

It was quite odd to her, in spite of everything, all the hurt, pain, humiliation and persecution, that her mother would never use such – actual and accurate - words to describe Yagami Light.

Her father had ‘limitations’, was what her good-hearted mother would always, always say. He just had limitations, but he meant no harm. It was very kind of her to say, but he _did_ do harm. One only needed to look at what had become of poor Misa. And what was barely left of her.

Slowly emerging out of the darker thoughts no child should ever had, Hikari looked up at her mother, before carefully shifting closer, as if not to startle her, and then curling up against her.

That drew Misa’s attention towards her daughter fast, eyes wide with curiosity and concern: “You okay, baby?”

“Sleepy,” replied Hikari with a small yawn, even though she felt nowhere close to tired yet, and simply wanted to be as close as she could to her mother.

Gently carding her fingers through her dear daughter’s smooth and soft long, light brown hair, Misa had a sudden thought, humour to her tone: “Should I lullaby you to sleep?”

“I’d **_love_** that,” replied Hikari instantly, nodding quite eagerly when her mother just stared, fairly surprised at being taken seriously.

“Are you _sure_? How about if I make a din like a hen?” mused Misa jokingly, leading Hikari to stifle her laughter, but could no longer do so when her mother began making silly chicken noises.

After giggling to their heart’s content, Misa then sobered, smiling gently as she laid down, facing her daughter: “Alright then, you asked for it. I’ll deliver, sure. Which one, baby?”

“...The one about magpies.”

Not that she would ever refuse her daughter anything, because if Misa could, she would give her the entire world if not more, but Hikari’s request _did_ take the young blonde woman aback.

“Are you sure? That’s not a happy song, baby.”

“But **_you_** like it a lot,” mentioned Hikari with a smile “So I want to hear it, _please_ , Mummy?”

“Oh, alright,” relented Misa, to which her daughter beamed at brightly leading her mother to simply melt, before trying to remember the rhyme in question “...One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told, Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten for a bird, You must not miss, Eleven is worse, Twelve for a dastardly curse.”

Rather ill at ease saying _these_ specific words out loud for her daughter to hear, but committing all the same, Misa echoed the short lullaby over and over, until she thought Hikari was asleep.

Gently scooping up her daughter within the safety of her arms, the young woman hoisted her daughter up, before carrying her to the bed, and delicately settling her down under the covers.

After making sure Hikari was comfortably tucked in, all nice and warm, Misa lovingly ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair, before eventually pulling away, heart tightening painfully.

Checking that the door was **_locked_** , she made her way to the adjoined bathroom, leaving the door halfway open just like last time, before shakily taking a seat in the bathtub, and breaking into hard sobs, careful to keep quiet.

_“Rotten child!”_

_“Freak, get away from us!”_

The voices in her head were **loud** , _so loud_ , she couldn’t hear herself think, all of them yelling at her. Screaming. Belittling. Condemning. Humiliating. Raging. Blaming. ALL **_TOO_** LOUD.

_“Must I really remind you, Misa? You are nothing without me. And you can be made nothing again, just as easily - this, you_ know _. Do NOT push me.”_

_“Don’t even think that, ok? Besides how can I ignore a friend in need? Or turn a blind eye?”_

What was going on? WHAT WAS HAPPENING? Why, why, why, _why_? Was it the pills? Was she going mad, crazy, insane?

_“Who’d listen to you? A junkie pumped up on drugs 24/7 ‘cause she lost her head as a kid?”_

_“You’re a mess! A failure! And worse of all, a bad mother!”_

They were right. All of them. Every one of them. She was a mess. A mess. A **_freaking_** mess. She had to get away. Far Away from her sweet, sweet child.

Misa was insane. How dare she even think for an instant that she could be there for Hikari? Protect her? She couldn’t even protect herself.

_“...I can’t imagine a world without you, Mummy.”_

_‘DON’T LEAVE HER.’_

That last one, despite having no clue who it had said it, seemed to have the power to clear her blaring head enough to give her the ability to collect herself and steady her erratic breathing. That voice was right. She **_had to_** fight for Hikari. Nothing else mattered. Not even her sanity...

Drying her eyes with clumsy gestures, Misa fumbled for her phone, dialling for someone she knew would help her in a heartbeat, no matter what.

“Hello? Hey, listen, I know you’re **_real_** busy, could you just-? Could you come over? _Please_. I- I don’t know who else to call, I- I need help.”

**Two Days Later.**

It was still snowing. A little less than these last couple of days though, looking more like cold specks of unsteady softness falling, rather than an outright white blizzard of howling winds...

If anything, the young man currently entering the village, after flying in from London, would almost say he was right at home. More or less. Since this was just like rain. Kind of. Meh. What did he care, it was not important anyways.

For some reason however, people _really_ **_did_** like to yammer on uselessly about the weather, usually the idle conversation starter, like it was some kind of creed. What was up with that? How about talking for once about chocolates first? Why the bloody hell wasn’t _that_ a thing?

Brushing off some of the snow from his shoulders, he paused to ask for directions, all while taking in the whispering and staring of those around him, some even being so bold as to point. ‘Isn’t he cold?’

‘Who is he though?’

Well, no, he wasn’t cold, for one. Knee-high, Velcro-ed combat boots in a shade of dark grey, black slim jeans, fashionably torn at on the sides, revealing fishnet stockings underneath, a dark long-sleeved shirt, underneath a leather jacket, along with a pair of gloves and a top hat, was **_more_** than enough to keep him warm, thank you very much. As for he _who_ he was-

“ _Dude_ ,” intoned a bystander abruptly, drawing the young male’s attention to a guy regarding him from head to toe, before grinning toothily “Sweet costume.”

“Oh, this is not a costume. This is my natural state of being.” 

“Huh?” uttered the man, looking confused and a bit concerned he might have been offensive.

“Is he a magician then?” whispered someone else in the crowd, leading him to smirk, amused.

Honestly, compared to his actual occupation, he would _very much_ rather be a magician - or even a wizard, Harry Potter style - any day. Alas, he wasn’t as lucky. A nice thought however.

“Compliments **_much_** appreciated, gents,” grinned the young, eccentrically dressed male as he tipped his hat towards the curious and slightly judge-y crowd, before walking off “Good day!”

The crowd watched him go, still commenting amongst each other: “Freaky kind of guy, huh?”

“I’m surprised he isn’t freezing!”

“...I like his accent though.” 

Rolling his eyes, more than used to drawing unwanted attention by now, the young male made his way towards the place he had been directed to, a rather remote house at the farthest end, quite distinctly separate from the rest of the inhabitants’ homes.

Reaching it in a jiffy, the young male hopped up the front steps, before knocking at the door and patiently waiting, whilst taking a look at the place a little better. It looked very nice, posh-

He suddenly shivered a bit, leading him to blink, a tad bewildered. It wasn’t the cold though, that much he was sure of...

Before he could consider this odd, out of nowhere, sensation any further however, someone answered the door for him, leading him to look down at the little girl, staring back up at him. There was absolutely no mistaking those blue eyes.

His lips, dark with lipstick, quirked up into a warm, cordial smile as he lowered himself down onto one knee to be at the little girl’s level, before holding out a hand: “Why, hi there, mini-Misa.”

She simply stared at him, unblinkingly, her entire demeanour distant, apprehensive, leery, but in spite of that, she politely replied all the same, returning his handshake: “Hello.”

And she just left it at that, retracting her hand and staying put, not adding another word, not moving an inch, not even a blink. Just **_staring_** , as if trying to peer into the depths of his being.

The young male felt a sweat brewing across his brow. He was fairly used to being gawked at, but this was frankly _rather_ unnerving.

“Say, may I come in?” he asked, before he pointed at himself “I am an old friend of Misa’s.”

Tilting her head at the words, the little girl frowned suspiciously: “...Are you _really_ though?”

“I would hope so,” he replied seriously with a blank face “I do not travel across the world for just anyone. And your mum has my socks - this pair she once borrowed, back when we were teens - which I _never_ asked back. Great friend, am I not?” 

Hikari’s eyes widened a slight, unsure if the person in front of her was serious or not, until he winked at her and pulled his tongue cheekily, leading her to let out a laugh: “You’re _funny_!”

“Now _that_ I never heard before, how odd,” he mused aloud, this time making his tone jokey, making her laugh a bit more.

Visibly relaxed, the little girl smiled at him brightly, taking his hand and leading him inside: “We like you.”

The young male was just thinking about how a bit strange it was for the girl to have relented in letting him so easily - sure, his humour had been gold, but what about the _stranger danger_ \- when he stilled at those words, not sure if he had just misheard or if he should be concerned.

“Ah,” he began carefully, regarding the little brown-haired girl with a high-level of intrigue “I am _sincerely_ flattered. ...Also, I apologize. I did not realize I was talking to Queen Victoria.”

Visibly confused, she was swift to look up at him with big, wide blue curious eyes: “... _Who_?”

Chuckling a bit, he patted her head: “You will learn about her one day. If you read Black Butler, that is.”

“Okay!” she accepted with complaint, before she peered up at him “ _Say_...What’s your name?”

“Lawliet. El Lawliet.”

Nodding, the little girl then wrinkled her nose adorably as she tried out his name prudently: “Lou- Loo- Lalyet-”

Frustrated at her inability to get it right, she glanced up at his amused face in annoyance, before declaring resolutely, her tone leaving no room for argument: “Your name’s L-chan.”

“Yep, we can go with that. _Sure_. If it saves you the trouble of butchering my name,” grinned Lawliet, before his attention was averted at the sight of his old friend emerging from the back, leading him to smile softly at her “Hi there, Misa.”

“Lawliet-chan!” cried out Misa, relief running free across her exhausted, near gaunt features as she rushed over to embrace him, tightly “Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ for being here.”

“Of course,” replied Lawliet without any hesitation whilst returning the hug just as fiercely, especially when he felt faint tremors wracking her frail figure “For you Misa, anything at all.”

Indulging in the moment for a bit, as it had been **_so long_** since they had last seen each other, they then both pulled away, smiling at each other, before Lawliet’s attention was averted at the sight of Misa’s daughter, now somewhere off on the other side of the hall, looking their way with an oddly pensive look on her face.

Upon seeing that she had been noticed, she gave him an almost approving smile, before she let herself disappear up the stairs, flying up the steps hurriedly, possibly going up to her room.

“Sweet kid,” stated Lawliet, not knowing what to make of the kid, but not wanting to be rude “Looks _just_ like you. Thinks a bit like you too. Kind of freaky actually.”

“Oh, really?” intoned Misa, visibly surprised as she led her friend to the comfort of the lounge “I always thought Hikari was nothing like me.”

“Mini-Misa is _nothing_ like Yagami either.”

“I never said that,” she whispered with a shiver “Hikari is just...a bit unique in her own way.”

Taking off his jacket and his gloves, revealing several, silver rings here and there, similarly to what Misa wore, and black-polished nails, Lawliet took a comfortable seat on the sofa as was bid of him, before he arched an eyebrow at her: “Like this ‘we’ business?”

“I **_don’t_** like that look, Lawliet-chan,” she was quick to chide with a reproving look as she sat down in an armchair, facing him but shifting every now and then, restlessly “Like you think there’s something wrong with my daughter.”

“Well? _Is_ there?”

“Of _course_ NOT,” she huffed, quite miffed, before she sighed and clarified the matter for him “Hikari’s only referring to herself and her imaginary friend. That’s _all_ there is, nothing more.”

“ _Imaginary_ friend?” echoed Lawliet with a stunned look, before nodding then, tone sarcastic “Oh that **is** all. Alright. Wait, is she not a bit _too_ old for that?”

“Oh, like you _never_ had one as a kid,” scoffed Misa, her whole demeanour and body language on edge, before she raised her eyebrows “Point in fact, you used to tell me **_you_** heard voices-”

“Well, I would not call them ‘friends’, nor ‘imaginary’,” cut in Lawliet, a bit remote all of a sudden, discomfort in his expression as he nibbled on one of his nails “Talking to the dead is _no_ fun, sweetheart, no matter how much I get paid to hold séances and be a bloody medium.”

Instantly feeling guilty, Misa froze in her seat, eyes now downcast as she whispered: “Sorry.”

“Right as rain, Misa, no harm done,” he said gently as he shook his issues away with a casual shrug, leading her to smile his way ruefully “Now, tell me. What is all the trouble about?”

Paling more than she already was, the young woman paused significantly, like she had no clue where to start, before she eventually let out a shuddering breath and reached for her phone. Misa then scrolled through it, pretty quickly, before holding it out towards him for him to see.

Lawliet just stared, after the cell phone had been thrust right in his face, without any warning or words, seeing but not understanding the picture before him: “ _And_... What am I looking at?”

At this point, his trembling friend literally looked scared to death, her voice unbearably quiet: “It’s a picture of me, _sleeping_ , on my phone.”

Indeed. It _was_. He wasn’t **blind** , thank you very much. It was quite _clearly_ a picture of Misa sleeping underneath the covers, all wrapped around her protectively like some kind of shield. He frowned, upon noticing the young woman’s features. She was tormented _even_ in her sleep.

When Misa didn’t say anything more nor moved, Lawliet drawled out: “...Your _point_ being-?”

She looked like she wanted to scream. But she didn’t, still whispering as if she was afraid of being overheard, be it by her daughter...or _something else_ , he genuinely had no idea.

“Lawliet-chan, I live here _alone_.”

He stared before, ever so slowly, in an exaggerated fashion, he tilted his head in the direction of where the young woman’s little daughter was, upstairs, with his face _clearly_ spelling out: ‘ _Alone? Really_?’

Misa gave him a rather exasperated look then: “Hikari didn’t take this picture, Lawliet-chan.”

“...Kids are incredibly astute, you know? Do not underestimate them,” said Lawliet, positive that the girl had played a prank on her mother “Or the next you know, they will be ruling the whole world with an iron fist, crossing off anyone who does not obey their rules.”

“That’s...oddly specific,” pointed out Misa, faintly bewildered, before sobering and gesturing back at the phone “You’re saying Hikari did this, but doesn’t know how to tie _her shoelaces_?”

“In her defence, I am freaking twenty-nine and I _still_ do not know how,” deadpanned Lawliet, absolutely serious, before showing off his footwear “Solved the problem by wearing lace-less shoes. Or boots - **_without_** laces. They are demons. And whoever invented them was a sadist.”

“Well, I’ll agree with you on that,” laughed Misa tightly, genuinely missing these inane chats with her dear friend, but too stressed out to enjoy them “Still, Lawliet-chan, it **_wasn’t_** Hikari.”

“You do not know that, sweetheart-”

“Actually, Lawliet-chan, I do,” insisted the young woman, almost doing so desperately now “Hikari _didn’t_ take this photo. She couldn’t have. Not when she was asleep, _right next to me_.”

At that, Lawliet’s dark eyes widened, chest tightening rather uncomfortably as he hastily reached out for the phone to look again. He had completely missed it, but the girl was indeed beside her mother, right within Misa’s arms, her little head poking out from the covers.

Lawliet swallowed. No wonder his friend was freaking out. Forget spooky. This was **creepy**. If it **_wasn’t_** Misa or Hikari, the only two individuals within this house at the given moment, who _the hell_ took this picture?

The possibilities were endless and, as far as Lawliet could imagine it, **_none_** of them were even remote good. It could range from _anything_ from a ghost, to a stalker. He shivered, horrified. And Misa had to deal with this, all by herself? What if... What if **_worse_** could have happened?

“So strange photos, huh?” he drawled out, trying to make light a possibly _very_ dire situation, if only for his friend’s comfort “Not by far the _weirdest_ thing I heard. Maybe you have a fan.”

Misa didn’t fail to disappoint, and Lawliet almost instantly received a half-hearted punch to the arm for his ‘joke’: “You **CANNOT** say that so nonchalantly, what is _wrong_ with you?!”

Grinning a bit at his friend’s half-frustrated, half-flustered features as he rubbed his shoulder, Lawliet then shrugged: “Well, it is either that, or a ghost. And I can assure you, none here. If there _is_ , I do not sense-”

“Say, Mummy?”

A **_super_** , cold chill hit the young dark-haired male then, it was so cold it took his breath away.

He slowly turned over to stare with wide eyes at his friend’s daughter as the latter entered the lounge. Or more specifically, whatever it was he saw towering high over the girl from behind. Lawliet had _never_ , in his _entire_ life, seen _anything_ like it. He wasn’t even sure _what_ he saw, having lost all words to describe it.

Oblivious to her friend’s petrified state as she dedicated her entire attention upon her child, Misa smiled at her affectionately: “Yeah, baby?”

It was a blink n’ miss moment, but the little girl briefly looked Lawliet’s way, eyes glittering with seemed to be faint spark of intrigue, before she redirected her focus on her mother again.

“Is it okay if I watch a bit of telly?” inquired Hikari then sweetly, having learnt to always ask permission before doing anything at all, even for the littlest of things.

“Of course, baby. You go do that, okay? Have fun!”

“ ** _Yay_** , thank you!” beamed the girl as she threw herself forward to land a big, wet peck on her mum’s cheek, before taking her leave and waving, smiling wide and bright “Later, Mummy, L-chan too!”

Genuinely surprised that her child had apparently taken an immediate liking to her childhood friend, Misa smiled happily, about to share this titbit of information with the young goth male, only to find him completely still, both his hands unsteady at his side, a sweat across his brow. “ _Lawliet-chan_? Wha-? Are you alright?”

He glanced at her, but didn’t reply straight away, his mind reeling. It lasted but the fraction of a second, but Lawliet _knew_ what he had seen. He was absolutely, one hundred percent certain. **_Unless_** this house made anyone who took up residence in it, gradually go mad.

“Say, Misa,” he uttered, his tone quiet “...What can you tell me about your daughter’s friend?”

Puzzled and perturbed by his sudden shift in behaviour, Misa frowned: “What do you mea-?”

“And does it have a name?”

Lawliet blinked. The name didn’t ring any bells. He had initially assumed that whatever Misa had unwittingly called upon in the past, at least twice from what he knew, was somehow still around. But it wasn’t the same name. Nor presence for that matter. Which worried him a little.

“...Was that _really_ what you heard, Misa?”

“I honestly ** _don’t_** remember, Lawliet-chan. _Maybe_? Say, why are you **so** worried? It’s just a-”

“A lot of imaginary friends are not... _just_ that, Misa,” he said softly, eyes haunted “I will tell you about a call I replied to once. Six years ago, in South-West England, in the Moors of Devon, this family requested for my help. It was for their lil’ boy, who kept on talking about a _Polly_ , his ‘friend’, as he called her. She was **_far_** from it. Sparing you the details - you do _NOT_ want to know. Let us just say, it ended _mostly_ well, but not without blood, sweat and tears.”

“ _Misa_ ,” intoned Lawliet then, tone firm and tense, just as his friend had opened her mouth to protest “The more you, or your daughter even, talk about this ‘thing’, the more power you give it and the **more** it will be real to you. To both of you. It might even go as far as to hurt-”

“It won’t hurt us. This _is_ Hikari’s friend,” maintained Misa delicately, adamant in her belief, before she looked his way almost pleadingly “There _has to_ be something **_else_** , Lawliet-chan.”

Her friend eyed her closely, carefully, but Misa truly seemed to firmly, staunchly trust in this. And so, despite his feeling of malaise, probably due to the unknown factor heavily in play, Lawliet relented: “Well, apart from whatever, **_maybe_** , non-malevolent entity - according to _you_ \- lingering around your kid for whatever reason, I have nothing.”

****

“ _Nothing_?” repeated Misa slowly, her expression drenched with distress all over again, as her voice descended into a vivid, wild hysteria “That so, huh? Alright, how about doors slamming when they’re all open then, hm? And there’s a doorbell that rings, when there’s _no_ fucking doorbell at the front door - you need to knock. Most things are **never** where I last left them; they keep moving around, even if it’s by an inch, as soon as I leave the room or I’m not paying attention. Some of my stuff I find broken out of nowhere, but then I find them in one piece a while later. I’ve been hearing knocks from mirrors within the house. And every time I look, I don’t see my own reflection. Yes, _nothing_ , like I’m not even standing there. But when I walk back in front of it a second time, my reflection just... _reappears_. At night, even if we lock my bedroom’s door, it **_always_** opens, and this... this _thing_ , emerges from the dark to stare at us. It leaves eventually, and every time, we find the door **locked**. And the messages. They’re appearing, and popping up, _everywhere_ \- on paper, on the walls, on the floors, the ceilings... It’s always spelled out in caps, in red, and it’s always the exact same words. **HE IS IN THE WALLS. If that’s not _something_ , then _what the HELL_** **is going on, Lawliet-chan??!”**

Lawliet listened carefully, but couldn’t help but muse at how **_very_** strange this ghost sounded. It wasn’t as though Lawliet didn’t believe Misa. One, he would take her word for it, without a second thought, and two, he had seen and experienced just as weird, albeit even stranger. But from some reason this ghost, felt almost ‘fake’? _If_ could allow himself to say that.

Generally, ghosts were pretty one-dimensional. It didn’t matter if they were set on threatening a person or vividly warning them, they would use absolutely _every_ means possible to make themselves known, or be heard. Because that was the **_only_** way they could _ever_ communicate. But _this_ ghost...

It was as if it was trying to be as _discreet as possible_ , leaving behind evidence that would pass of as mundane and normal, while all the eerie and weird crap was just, _erased from existence_. It didn’t sound right. It sounded- It sounded sinister. Whatever it was, it wanted _nothing_ good.

Lawliet frowned, glancing back over towards where Hikari was. It wasn’t whatever that thing was, hovering over the girl protectively. Again, he sensed nothing _malevolent_ coming from it. It had no ill intentions, from what he could tell. But he **_could_** be wrong. It wouldn’t be a first...

With her dear friend going deathly quiet, but also not even close to being privy to his exact thoughts, Misa’s distress grew exponentially, nails digging in the skin of her forearms: “I’m only twenty-six, and my life’s a fucking mess, Lawliet. I’m in the middle of a separation, and the hearing’s tomorrow. The scariest, fucking shit is happening to me. And I’m losing my mind, Lawliet-chan. I am _actually_ losing my mind. I’m going _completely_ craz—”

“Stop **_right_** there, Misa. You are not,” uttered Lawliet firmly as he locked eyes with her “Do not say that. You are stressed out. Overwrought. This is **_all_** Yagami’s fault. And you are simply suffering from the aftershocks.”

“...You really think so?” 

“I _know_ so,” he confirmed gently, before reaching out to hold her hand reassuringly “Come on, Misa. You will **not** be fully at ease, at peace, so long as he is lurking about in your brain.”

Squeezing at the hand holding hers, she let out a long, miserable sigh, her lower lip quivering: “I made the mistake of thinking we were good for each other, that it would all just get better. If only for Hikari, but- But I _can’t_ do this anymore. I **_really_** can’t.”

“Then **stop** ,” advised Lawliet, hating the one responsible for all of his friend’s sorrows and self-doubts with every fibre of his being “This is _your_ life, Misa. Yours and your daughter’s. Do not let him take any more than already did.”

“...Yeah,” she murmured distantly before nodding and quickly wiping her tears away “Okay. Thank you, Lawliet-chan.”

“Have you, _maybe_ , considered _leaving_?” proposed Lawliet, unable to keep from the pointing out the obvious “Just a suggestion in case Misa has, you know, not thought about it.”

“...And go **_where_** , Lawliet-chan?” she asked, heavy despair in her tone “I don’t have a family - not a ‘real’ one, and I don’t want to burden those who took me in more than I already have. I’m not qualified in **_anything_** , since I never finished my studies. I’m by no means rich to live off in hotels, and _no way_ I’m a raising my daughter in a motel or a shelter. Because of Light, I’m no longer in contact with _any_ of my close friends. And—”

Gently tugging her, he wordlessly brought his dear friend to him and gathered her in his arms, indulgently offering her solace in the warmth of a hug, all while wishing he could do more, that he had been called in to help much earlier than now. Because Misa was a freaking mess. And it was _very_ scary to see. He couldn’t even begin to state how utterly sorry he was for her. It wasn’t fair.

And as if the nightmare that was her ex wasn’t **_already_** a horror in itself to deal with, now she had these eerie occurrences happening without explanation, ever since she came over to house apparently—All Lawliet’s thoughts came to a screeching halt then: “Misa. Who sold you this place? Or are you renting it?”

“No, neither,” she replied, with a shake of her head as she glanced up at him “Kiyomi-chan lent it to us until the final hearing - just a place to get my shit together, and figure things out.”

Lawliet was about to comment that this person could have **_at least_** offered a much less remote alternative, like really, when his brow furrowed: “...Who?”

“Kiyomi-chan? Takada Kiyomi.”

It took a **good** moment for him to fully register the name, and when he did, he gaped at her: “The _CEO_? From Uniqlo? Since when did you two know each other? You are... ** _worlds_** apart.”

Pulling away slightly in order to face her friend, Misa gave him a particularly nettled look: “We went to Open Uni together, a while back.”

“And you have been in contact ever since?”

“No, actually, we lost sight of each other.”

“When?”

“Umm, I think around the time when she graduated and I- Ah, no, hold on. Actually, a bit before I started dating Light. We kind of all ended up drifting apart, were no longer in touch.”

“Yet, you were able to get a hold of her? How?”

“She called me, in fact,” shared Misa then, before tilting her head at him “Wait, Lawliet-chan, what are you getting at exactly? What’s with the Q&A all of a sudden?”

“Just asking is all,” shrugged Lawliet casually, as he filed away all this information for later, before he set a hand upon her shoulder and offered with extreme sincerity “You know, Misa, you _could_ live with us. My brothers will not mind - not like they can have an opinion anyway, but they both really like you. Plus, the place big enough for fifty of you and your daughter.”

Moved by her dear friend’s kindness, the young woman’s features softened at the suggestion, but her stance did not relax: “Oh, I’d **_love_** to, Lawliet-chan. I just don’t want to be a bother...”

“ **Bullocks**. As if you are, do not _DARE_ say that—”

She hugged him without a word, tight and close, before pulling away, bangs shading her eyes.

“Sorry, I- I need a sec,” she said as she fled, with Lawliet watching her go with a heavy heart.

Deciding at first to give her the space she wanted and needed, he then opted against it, going after her. He _really_ didn’t think Misa being all alone with her stifling thoughts would be good.

After not finding her anywhere down on the ground floor, he travelled up the stairs, checking each room, before stopping at the only door that was closed, not sure if he ought to be knocki-

“Mummy won’t leave this place.”

Startled, Lawliet snapped his eyes to the sad-looking girl who definitely hadn’t been standing there a minute ago, before calming down from the fright and actually registering her words: “Why not?”

Shuffling her feet about like a cat on hot bricks, she muttered under her breath with a frown: “She just...won’t.”

Staring at his friend’s daughter as she fidgeted, the young male had the distinct impression the girl knew _something_. She literally looked like her heart was about to burst, maybe because of some sort of secret she knew not how, nor who, to tell.

Approaching her and kneeling down to the girl’s level, Lawliet, calling upon all the unwanted, but quite often necessary experience and encounters he had had with the other side of life, considered his next words carefully.

“Tell me, Mini-Misa. What does your friend... _talk_ to you about?”

“ ** _Loads_** of stuff!” perked up the girl with a smile, emphasizing as such with her arms waving around, whereas Lawliet let her babble on about what this dear imaginary friend of hers, and he was quick to not three very distinct things, all just as surprising as the other.

One, this ‘imaginary friend’ had been around Hikari for a while now. Two, it had **never** done the girl **_any_** harm, seeming quite devoted to her. And three, it really seemed content with just being there for her, nothing more. How _bizarre_ , he mused. But what he wondered now was-?

“And what does your friend want?” inquired Lawliet, intrigued now, for he had never heard of a being from the other side to linger around a person, without wanting anything else in return.

Arms dropping at the same time as her high level of enthusiasm, Hikari’s expression instantly dimmed, caught somewhere between remote and bleak: “To protect me. From Daddy.”

Dark eyes widening a slight, Lawliet did **_not_** miss what Hikari had not said: “But not _Misa_?”

“...Mummy doesn’t _want_ to be protected.”

“Why not?” he inquired, but when Hikari just shrugged, lower lip trembling, he tried a guess “Did...? Did your friend tell you that?”

A nod.

“Does your friend tell you _many_ things about your mother?”

Another nod, leading Lawliet’s heart to skip a beat as his mind began to see this ‘imaginary’ friend in another light. Maybe, just _maybe_ , Misa had heard the name wrong. Could it be...?

The young male paused, waiting until she looked back his way and locked eyes with him: “And what is your friend’s name, Mini-Misa?”

The little girl’s entire face went blank, before quickly taking a step back, just as a long, thin crack appeared across the nearby wall, making the two jump, with Lawliet staring wide-eyed, and Hikari gasping, concerned: “You’re asking too many questions, L-chan. We **_don’t_** like it.”

“Alright, alright. I am done, sorry about that,” he relented apologetically, putting his hands up in a gesture of surrender as he looked around at what he could not see at the moment “Sorry.”

After looking in a given direction with what he could only assume was reprimand, Hikari then stared his way hard with what he could only guess was either surprise or astonishment, much to his bewilderment.

He watched her closely, not saying anything, while wondering what she could be thinking. Was it because he wasn’t scared? Why **_would_** he be? This...thing meant no harm, or so would his gut declare. If anything, **he** was at fault here, poking about when it was clearly not wanted.

“Are you afraid now?” asked the little girl tentatively, tilting her head a slight, as if confused.

He merely gave her a smile, before slumping against the nearest wall and just sitting there, waiting for whenever Misa would come out of her moment of misery, wanting to be a good friend, but not wanting to be a pushy one either. He sighed. Life was bloody hard and rotten to the best of people, just **_why_**?

Still somewhat stunned, Hikari joined Lawliet, still staring at him, looking even more amazed: “Say, what **_are_** you afraid of, L-chan?”

“ _Afraid of_? ... **Me**? Well,” paused Lawliet as he considered the girl’s question, his next words leading her eyes to brighten up with a sudden, strange light “Monsters, I suppose. There are many, _many_ monsters in this world. Monsters who you never see, but always cause trouble. Monsters who prey upon the naïve and the vulnerable. Monsters who devour dreams. And monsters who always tell **lies**. Lying monsters are the most terrifying ones, the **_worst_**. They pose as humans, even though they have no understanding of what humans _truly_ are. They do not know a thing about trust, truth, love... _Bored_ out of their minds, simply doing things for the sake of doing them. They are just... empty. **Hollow**. That is the scariest thing about them.”

Hikari lengthily considered his words, leading him to wonder if she had actually understood them or not, before she asked, intrigued: “And where do those monsters go during the day?”

“Hmm, they _hide_ , I guess. Since it is so much easier for them to strike from within the dark.”

“Could you _please_ not scare my daughter, Lawliet-chan?”

Both of them looked up to see Misa, all red eyes and nose, smiling down at them, apparently having been there for a bit, but neither had heard or noticed her, before she arched an eyebrow at her friend, tone only a bit chiding: “ _HOW_ is she supposed to know the difference between the monsters from the real world, and the ones from bedtime stories?”

“What makes you not see them as one and the same? Metaphors are a real thing, you know?”

Huffing a laugh she could not hold back, the young woman gave her child a soft smile which the little girl returned very brightly before she got up to leave, waving at Lawliet as she left.

Returning the gesture with a smile, the young male suddenly felt something brush his cheek, making him still, blinking a few of times. What was that? It had not been sinister at all. _Why_?

He alas wasn’t able to think about it long because barely seconds later Misa was in his face, cheeks puffed: “Again, Lawliet-chan, Hikari is _only_ nine. Remember that, would you?”

Mind reeling wild with concern and the latest probable revelations, he stared at her gently: “Misa. You cannot protect her forever. You know that, right?”

Her features fell flat, eyes broadening just a bit, before she looked away with a tight smile, a single tear falling down: “...I’ll watch over her, and protect her, for as long as I possibly can.”

* * *

**ACT II**

_“The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel.” — **James Hunt.**_

El Lawliet was graced with the immense blessing of not being a mind reader. Thank **_heck_** for that. Like _NO_ , thank you. As if his already pain-in-the-neck ‘abilities’ weren’t weird enough. Yet he was quite comfortable - not _THE_ best, but comfortable - when it came to reading faces. And Misa’s face right now was screaming anxiety and apprehension to near alarming degrees.

It made sense. Being in the instance of a separation was no piece of cake. It was a nightmare. And today so happened to be the final hearing. Today would determine, whether Misa would gain full custody of Hikari. Or if she would never see her daughter again.

At first, he had thought of her stress over today was a _bit_ much - like **_who_** in their right mind would believe and give credit to freakin’ Yagami over her, after everything that had transpired - but he was quick to realize that her fears were founded. Entirely, actually.

He did not doubt for one second that Misa was not crazy. She wasn’t. _Of course_ , she wasn’t. But **_she_** didn’t seem to believe it, trusting herself less and less - steady paranoia at its highest. 

Why? In the three days Lawliet had been here, not a **_single_** thing, eerie, ethereal or otherwise, had occurred. Nothing. At all. Like it had all been in her head. And that terrified her senseless. So much so, she had a breakdown this morning. And it had been both painful and scary to see, ‘cause a breakdown was an intensely lonely affair, after all. As it all occurs _inside one’s head._

_It was somewhere around two o’clock in the morning when Lawliet had come looking for her, when the sound of something breaking to pieces startled him out of an already restless sleep._

_He promptly flew out of the bed he’d been given within a nearby guestroom, heading straight for Misa’s room before making his way to the adjacent bathroom, with his heart in his throat._

_Curled up in the furthest corner within the bathroom, far from the now shattered mirror, Misa was in tears, nails digging into her scalp as she clutched her head, body shaking as she cried. And didn’t seem close to stopping, lost in whatever had cruelly ripped her away from reality._

_Had she been woken by a nightmare? Was the weight of her situation crashing down on her? Was she finally cracking under all the pressure?_

_The young goth male **truly** wanted to help, whatever he could do, but he had no clue what do, or what to say, remaining where he was for now, as if Misa was some poor, wounded animal: “Misa, please, if there’s anything, at all, I can do-”_

_At the sound of his voice, Misa went silent, before she sat up, straight and still, before staring at him with red, wet eyes, her tone only a whisper yet thick with emotion: “Say, Lawliet-chan, if anything happens to me, would you watch over Hikari for me?”_

_“What on earth has gotten into you??!” exclaimed a distraught Lawliet as he blanched, only a pitch lower than shouting in the all-too early hour, not appreciating the ill attempt at levity “What are you even **saying** right now, Misa, you-?!”_

_“ **Would** you?”_

_He almost stopped breathing then, regarding his friend with utter horror. She was not joking._

_“You’re scaring me,” he eventually confessed quietly, after being able to flee the shock a bit, before he breathed out shakily upon realizing that this was very serious indeed “I- Of course, I would. I mean, I’m SO not the parent type - just look at how bad I was at it with my brothers - but I sure would do my best. For you. For your kid too. In a heartbeat. That being said, do NOT ever speak as if you’re suddenly going to-”_

_He never got to finish as Misa then hugged the life right of him, all while sobbing in his ear: “ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou. Thank you SO much, Lawliet-chan, thank you-”_

_And she went on, didn’t stop, as though these words to him were her lifeline to the real world, and so, he let her, returning the hug just as fiercely, his heart a beating drum in his ribcage. This dangerously felt like a goodbye. And Lawliet hated that that he was helpless to change it._

Ever since that emotionally charged morning moment, the young goth male had been on edge, watching Misa in silence but closely, like a hawk, mindful of her every move, and ready to spring into action, at the best of his capacity, should something go awry.

But apart from the young woman stumbling and cursing softly as she hastened to get ready, nothing devastating occurred, thankfully. He was far from being at ease however, nerves high.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, from his spot on at the bottom of the staircase, he opted to shift his train of thoughts. Maybe, just maybe, if he could figure out the mystery of this house, he could be of some help to his friend.

And with that in mind, Lawliet’s focused gaze was now slowly scanning what he had picked up earlier this morning, amidst the broken mirror shards scattered across the bathroom’s floor, while sweeping the mess up after sending Misa back to bed - before Hikari woke up and saw.

He had pocketed it then, not thinking much of it, but was now giving it a closer look, holding between his thumb and forefinger. It was a small, flat rectangular device, like a chip. And he had never seen anything like it before, wondering what it could be.

_‘And every time I look, I don’t see my own reflection. Yes, nothing, like I’m not even standing there. But when I walk back in front of it a second time, my reflection just...reappears.’_

Dark eyes widened. Could it be-? Was _this little thing_ responsible? ...Was that even possible? If it was...

Nibbling on the nail of his thumb with distrait persistence, Lawliet gave the new perspective on the matter some thought, working around each odd occurrence Misa had shared with him. And he came to a conclusion. It was slightly inane, notably without proof, but not impossible. In consequence, he now definitely need to make a given phone call, as soon as he could.

Putting that thought on hold for the time being as his friend reappeared, fully ready to leave, he pondered over sharing his newfound theory with her, but at the last second, considerately opted not to.

Misa had more than enough on her mind at the moment. He would definitely tell her later. Once he had the confirmation he needed, if only to not worry her needlessly.

Dressed smartly, underneath the warmth of a quilted jacket, along with a touch of make-up to her face, which did very little to hide the bags under her eyes and dismal dimness in her gaze, she made her way over to Lawliet, who understood her intent fast, and pulled her in for a hug.

Neither said a word, holding onto each other tight, Misa needing comfort and Lawliet needing reassurance, before the former slowly pulled away, and then turned to her child who had only just descended the staircase, arms held out towards her dear daughter with a smile.

Hikari did not hesitate for a second, dashing and hopping straight into her mother’s warm and loving embrace, before clinging on, like a larger version of the koala, and burying her face deep within the crook of Misa’s neck.

Lawliet smiled at the beautiful display of affection and love between the mother and daughter, before deciding to give them a bit of privacy and look away. But his gaze met the girl’s then, he found himself rooted in place, goosebumps upon his skin, his initial intent fully forgotten.

From over her mother’s shoulder, the little girl was looking _directly at him_ , large eyes wide, shining with unshed tears, and filled to the brim with an unparalleled level of ruinous _grief_. What an awfully startling gaze from a child.

Lump gradually forming in his suddenly dry throat, Lawliet tried to look away, but Hikari’s mournful gaze was gripping, the emotions roaming there contagious, as if she was begging: _‘Please, please, don’t let my mother leave.’_

The young goth male would’ve gladly complied, but he no longer had a voice at the moment, tongue turned to stone, feet nailed to the ground, powerlessness pinning him firmly, pitilessly.

What had felt like an eternity had only been a couple of seconds, before the tense atmosphere was suddenly sliced through by a horridly shrill ringtone, signalling that Misa’s time was up. She had to go.

“Bye, baby,” whispered the young woman gently, delivering a kiss to her daughter’s temple before gingerly depositing her back down and touching her cheek “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Hikari, her features now a bit more presentable, if only for her mother’s sake, gave her mother a wordless nod and a lovely smile, tightly clasping her hands in front of her: “...Ok, Mummy.”

Lips trembling for only a second, Misa smiled back, before she donned her coat and made her way to leave, waving at them both on her way out. The closing door sounded like a sentence...

After watching his friend leave with an uneasy heart, the young male then addressed the little girl standing next him, making sure to keep _only_ levity in his tone: “So, just you and me, huh? Anything you want to do? Or would you rather be with your friend right now?”

Hikari didn’t reply, still staring at the closed door, as if hoping her mother would change her mind and walk back in. The young goth male sympathized with her worries. He had them too. Shivering subtly, Lawliet couldn’t get rid of the queasy feeling that Misa shouldn’t have left...

All of a sudden, the young goth male felt a very distinctive shift of the air within the hallway, like a familiar presence, other than Misa’s, had only just departed from the residence entirely.

Genuinely bewildered, he was just about to remark on it, hoping to receive an answer, when Hikari snapped her attention up towards Lawliet, her features now devoid of any emotion: “Wanna play _Stupid Deaths_ with me?”

He gawked down at her, aghast by the game choice _and_ the girl’s nonchalance as she said it: “...You know how to play that game?”

“I play it with Mummy all the time.”

 _‘Yeah, but that’s not a **kid** ’s game,’ _mused Lawliet, still somewhat dumbfounded, before he eventually nodded at her “I’d like that, sure. Just remind me how it works? It’s been a while.”

“Sure,” conceded the girl with a smile that didn’t quite reach her ears, unlike it usually did, but before he could bring it up or ask about it, she was already walking off over to the lounge.

Reaching it, she dove down to reach under one of the couches and pulled out the game board, before gesturing for Lawliet to sit down as she began explaining: “The goal of the game is to escape the Grim Reaper, by ‘being dead the right way’. And to do that, we start here - the Green space - and read each other a card, before guessing if the death is true or false, real or made up. If you guess correctly, you can move forward, space by space, and away from the Grim Reaper. If you guess wrong, you move the Grim Reaper closer one space nearer to you.”

Now kneeling next her, he stared at her, unable to look away or blink, unnerved by how casually a nine-year-old girl was talking about death. Did she even _GET_ what she was saying? Thinking back to her expression barely a moment ago, he would think that _perhaps_ she did...

“You win,” she carried on easily, as cool as a cucumber, and utterly oblivious to his concern “If you reach the Red space - the finish line - all safe and sound. But you’ll lose if-”

“If _‘Death touches you’_ ,” quoted Lawliet as he picked up the flat, plastic pawn that depicted the Grim Reaper, and slowly ran a black polished nail across its scythe “... ** _That_** I remember.”

0000000000000000000000

Misa had never liked drama. She avoided it like the plague. But it _always_ seemed to find her, no matter where she went, no matter what she did or did not do, no matter how she **_loathed_** it.

Sighing, the young woman decided that it was definitely not the time to think such thoughts. She couldn’t help it though...

Her lawyer, Raye Penber - who had been the one to come pick her up - was now walking next to her as they navigated their way down the halls of the courthouse, and was quick to note her nervous fidgeting, leading him to smile at her kindly: “Everything will be fine, Amane-san. We’ll do our best, alright?”

She promptly gave him a wobbly smile, which lasted but a few, meagre seconds, before her face fell, leaving room to dreadful trepidation again, as she aggressively worried her lower lip.

Needless to say, the young lawyer sincerely felt sorry for the poor thing. She had had it _rough_. Almost her entire life. It was a genuine miracle she was **_still_** aliv-

“Say, Penber-san?” uttered Misa out of the blue, halting quite abruptly in her hastened steps, before she tentatively looked his way with a blank stare “Could I please ask a favour of you?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything,” answered the young man rather benevolently, slightly taken aback but far too cordial and considerate to voice it, as he followed suit and stopped too.

Eerily inexpressive, blue eyes met his head on, unblinking, unflinching, before she inquired, her voice no louder than a whisper as she held out a sealed letter to him: “And not _question_ it? Refuse it? Especially if it is, like, the **_right_** thing to do... No matter _what_ it **_actually_** is?”

A queasy feeling rose from within Raye, shivers running down his spine: “Amane-san, you-”

“ _Please_.”

Conflicted, Penber stared wide-eyed at the young woman, unsure on what to say, what to do. What on earth was she even asking? Part of him didn’t want to know, pushing him to decline. The other side of him did not want to ignore her, nor what seemed to be a **_very_** desperate plea.

As stated before, this young woman had had it **rough** , effortlessly making her one of the more convoluted cases he had ever had to defend.

Born and raised within a barren, broken household, devoid of any semblance of normalcy and care, she was the only child to an entirely absent mother, and an emotionally abusive father. When the already subtle, yet sinister abuse shifted to a much viler one, something...happened.

Up until this very day, Raye - who by that time onwards became a part of young Misa’s life, since so many had deemed it bright to accuse a kid - had no **_clear_** idea of _what_ had happened.

All he and everyone else knew, was that the authorities were called in after alarming screams had been heard from the flat n°4377, only for the once little, blonde girl to be found in a state of hysterics, her father having flung himself out the balcony window, of a ten-story building...

The whole situation was quickly ruled out as a simple suicide, for several very simple reasons. And amongst them, there was absolutely no possibility for the second party present, to have been responsible and/or guilty - a small girl, around seven years old at the time, couldn’t have possibly been the one to shove her 143 pound father out the window. Infeasible. Nonsensical. 

**_But_** , there was this one ambiguous information Raye never knew what to do with. Apparently, in spite of the fact that little Misa had become mostly silent, understandably traumatized, the psychologist who had been assigned to take care of her, revealed that the girl had once uttered something, quite bizarre. Something along the lines of _‘I really hoped she wouldn’t do that...’_

...She? Who was _she_? Upon hearing that the first time, Raye couldn’t repress a cold shudder, but then, upon further consideration, the girl’s words made little to no sense whatsoever.

Forensics showed black on white, that apart from Misa herself and her father, _no one_ else had been there inside the flat during the event. _Unless_ , someone had superbly covered their tracks.

With this newer perspective, which shifted a suicide to a probable murder, Raye had opted to give it some thought - he was no detective, so this was not his job, but he was rather intrigued.

Logic would have it that if Misa’s words were of any indication at all, this maybe existing murderer, was possibly someone either she, or her father, or both knew. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense that this person had had access to the flat in the first place.

So, who could it have been? Misa’s own mother? Well, it couldn’t have been, since she had an impeccable alibi given she was living in a different country, albeit continent, at the time... A spurned lover then? Or a resentful family member? Or a vengeful co-worker maybe?

But one way or another, _none_ of these fit. Misa’s father had never sought a new relationship, he had cut off all ties with his family long ago, and as far as everyone knew, he would work from home...

Hence the lingering query. If there _had_ been a killer, someone else that day, **who** had it been?

Understandably, this question had remained unanswered all this time, since all the evidence spelled suicide and Misa had never said anything else on the matter, so Raye had dropped it. But he had chosen to not give up on Misa.

And he never did. At least, he tried his best not to, despite her disappearing on him for a little.

In hindsight, the young lawyer should’ve seen it coming really. Trauma, no matter how faint, would leave anyone feeling out of place and with an inexplicable urge to distance themselves.

Jostled from foster home to foster home, never having proper stability, Misa fled as soon as she could. Eleven years of age at that time, the girl, far too young for the big, wide world, bravely took it upon herself to seek refuge in the first ones who would accept her as a whole. Too bad it was by far the wrong, albeit worst ones, Misa could have ever picked to be with...

Raye didn’t know every single, little detail, but he was overall aware that, officially speaking, they were a group of teens, who would run around doing odd jobs now and then, and get high.

 ** _Unofficially_** \- and off the record so to speak - this group was actually _very_ close to a cult, a deviant one at that. Something about valorising death in order to transcend it, or to become it, or some crazed thing like that. But to do so, came at a great cost, a dangerous risk, a sacrifice. And that was all Raye knew.

Thankfully, Misa had a sense to realize that this was morally wrong, a crime, purely inhuman, and she, along with another teenager - who she never mentioned by name - ran away together.

After living a while on the streets, they parted ways, and Misa, by some strange twist of fate, ended up on no other than the lawyer’s own doorstep. The coincidence was welcome though, for both. Even Naomi, his fiancée then, his wife now, had been elated to take care of the girl.

Neither were able to have kids, so they were both quick to consider her their own, eventually adopting Misa and doing their utter best to provide her with what she has lacked for so long.

But, of course, them taking in the then sixteen-year-old girl raised some controversy, amongst family, friends, colleagues and strangers alike. A mistake, a source of problems and conflicts, a burden, a cursed calamity, they would say, given the girl’s troubling, **_and_** troublesome, past.

As the ill-tongued gossip began spreading, and Misa eventually overheard it, she encouraged, near begged, the two to keep their distance, to keep their name clean, their reputation safe. Or, if only for their sake, she’d flee again, saying her presence only brought misery and tragedy. An utterly heart-wrenching thing for such a young, young person to say.

Given that she had reached legal age, Raye and Naomi agreed to give Misa the space she asked for, so long as she promised to study hard, as they had both pitched in for her to attend the local Open University - since she was far too behind to go to school, and start all over. Sweet, lovely Misa had promised, trying her best to better herself. But once again, someone corrupted her path. And Raye was most regretful for not seeing this coming from a mile away.

Misa grew up, alone and lonely, readily latching onto the first person to ever remotely present her with the notion of being wanted, needed, loved... Alas, the young girl had chosen wrong. _Terribly_ wrong.

Then again, the way Raye understood it, it was actually Light that picked her, singled her out. Why? He had no way to know for sure. But he was beyond positive, it was for **nothing** good. 

“Penber-san?”

Realizing that he had totally been lost in thoughts for a bit, Raye came back to the present, eyeing Misa carefully, in hopes of perhaps deciphering whatever her intentions actually were: “You can trust me, Amane-san, you know that, right?”

“I trust you.” 

Moved by the sincerity within those three incredibly pointed words, he nodded, accepting the letter from her, but before he can open it, she stopped him swiftly, hand gripping his tightly: “Not now.”

“But Amane-san, is this not related to the settlement? If so, isn’t it best that I read it now-?”

“No, just- Later,” she insisted with weighty significance “I promise, you’ll understand...why.”

Misa had clearly been about to say something else entirely, but Raye did not press the issue, holding back on making her anxiety worse. Though he grandly worried for her sake, she had never given him any reasons to distrust her, so the least he could do was respect her wishes, no matter what they may be.

“Alright. I’ll trust you too, Amane-san,”

That apparently had been the right words to say, as they instantly alleviated more than half of the pressure which seemed to be weighing down upon the young woman, now smiling at him.

“Trust, you say?”

Both shifted their attention then to the two males gradually making up the hall towards them. And Raye did not miss the way Misa shrunk behind his frame to disappear a slight from sight.

His jaw and fists tightened before he could note it, fatherly instincts kicking in over the poor girl that was not even related to him by blood. Whoever declared blood was thicker than water **_really_** didn’t have _all_ their facts straight.

Raye watched, wary yet unyielding, as their opposition sauntered over, both confident and calm, as well as _purposefully_ torpid in their step, as though they had **all** the time in the world. There was of course Yagami Light, dressed all neat and proper, not a hair out of place, with painted across his impeccable features an expression as eerily cold and unfeeling as ever.

Which Misa’s lawyer couldn’t help but hate with passion, due the fact that he had **_completely_** missed it when they had first met, the day Misa had introduced Light both to him and Naomi. Despite being all prim, polite and smiles, his wife of today had initially expressed her distaste for the young man, saying there was _something_ off about him. And of course she’d been right.

Casually walking right next to the younger male, was the latter’s lawyer, **_the_** Thierry Morello. Rather than be an illustrious lawyer such as himself - for doing the most good they possibly could, protecting those who needed it - the man was _venomous_ , his only interest being money. No matter how he obtained it.

And his methods were not only questionable at best, but also just as distasteful as his current client’s entire personality. What a perfect match, honestly.

“That’s pretty unwise, Penber-san,” drawled out Thierry then with a stale, unfriendly smile as he stopped before his opposition for the day “ ** _Addicts_** aren’t known to be trustworthy people. Don’t you agree, Amane-san?”

As Misa remained silent and made herself even smaller, Raye stared hard at the other lawyer: “Please refrain from harassing my client, Morello-san.”

“ ** _Your_** client?” intoned Light then, arching an eyebrow deliberately slow, glittering red brown eyes trained on Raye carefully, critically as he paused lengthily, before going in for the kill “Sounds a tad _too_ possessive, doesn’t it?”

Spluttering at the implications, Raye squared his shoulders in an attempt to look taller, and not as little as this much younger man was making him feel right now: “I in NO way meant like-”

“ ** _How_** then, hm? I thought you were _married_ , Penber-san. Isn’t Misa a bit too young for you?”

“Wait up a minute, I-”

Misa watched as her half lawyer, half father-figure, became even more flustered, and she couldn’t help but, once again, be in aghast awe at the way Light could twist and manipulate another’s words. Experiencing it was one thing, witnessing it live and in colour was a whole other. And she was truly glad to realize she wasn’t the _only one_ who could fall prey to Light...

Intervening before her ex harried her poor lawyer any further, Misa addressed Light quietly: “Light, please, just- Just leave Penber-san alone. Please?”

Reddish, brown eyes instantly locked onto her, Light’s tone exuding superiority as he spoke to her in a soft voice, which held so much more weight than had he been shouting: “Just give me back my daughter, Misa. No fuss, no muss. You can leave me if you want, I won’t hold you back. Though I _really_ doubt that’s what you want. Why would you? It’s not like you can do much on your own, by yourself, _all **alone**_ -”

“She doesn’t need you in her life, Light,” responded Misa just as softly, ignoring his taunt, and focusing on the main issue at hand “She doesn’t need you, or me, ruining it more than we already did. Just...Let go? _Please_. Neither of us are good for her.”

“So you agree? That you’re not good for her.”

The young woman paused at that. There it was again. Him magnificently twisting her words. But _these_ words in particular, couldn’t be truer.

“I never denied it. _You’re_ the one who refuses to admit that you’re not just as bad as me,” confessed Misa honestly, before finally looking Light in the eye “You’re just so much worse.”

Raye didn’t realize he had been holding his breath this whole time, concerned that if he did, he’d break whatever intricate, intimate interrelation existed at the moment between these two. It was like there was only them right now.

This was especially apparent from none other than Yagami, surprisingly, who was regarding Misa with what the dark-haired lawyer could only assume was some sort of intrigue. Startling. 

“...I see you’re no longer letting your dreams stay dreams, Misa,” the auburn-haired male eventually uttered, smiling a bit “Finally opening your eyes to the nightmares? Good for you.”

Brushing past Raye and Misa, Light headed for the door of the courtroom they were meant to face off in, before opening it and holding it out for Misa, eyeing her expectantly: “Shall we?”

When she didn’t budge, he simply smiled, dark reddish, brown eyes glittering mysteriously, before he then made his way inside along with his lawyer, letting the door close behind them.

No sooner did they vanish from sight, Misa’s legs buckled and she would have fallen to her knees, had Raye not been fast enough to catch her and hold her up: “Whoa, Amane-san, ar-?”

Realizing that the question he had been about to voice was both redundant and ridiculous, he focused on helping her steady herself, before lowered his head to make eye-contact with her, his tone serious, solemn: “Will you be alright?”

Shying away from his concerned gaze, the young woman didn’t reply, letting out a shaky sigh instead as she up and charged for the door, rather resolute in her stiffened steps. If only for the sake of not backing out now.

Inside, the Court Judge, a middle-aged, fair-haired woman, who went by the name of Mary Kenwood, glared in the direction of the new arrivals, tone stern and flagrantly aggravated: “You’re **_late_**.”

“Our apologies,” grinned Thierry, tone **_very_** unapologetic, while Raye was quick to incline his head towards the judge to convey his apologies, before all four made their way to be seated.

Waiting impatiently till everyone was fully ready, the Court Judge donned a pair of glasses: “Shall we begin then, lady and gentlemen?”

A murmur of agreement rose in the rather empty courtroom, given this was a private affair, and only those concerned - the separating couple, their lawyers, the Court Judge and the court stenographer - were present.

With Raye being the first one to present and defend their side of this rather messed-up case, the young woman took a moment to glance over at Light.

He was already looking her way, eyes glittering still. Misa shifted in her seat, nails digging into her palms, before hurriedly looking away, now wearing a frown to her worried features.

She could effortlessly claim that while she had come to know what Light was more or less capable of, she could not read him well, albeit at all.

Even so, **_that_** particular look in his eye, usually held ill intentions. He was up to something. And she could tell it was **_nothing_** good.

Letting out a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes for a minute, letting her thoughts wander, especially since she did **not** need to hear Raye detail every instance of what she had had to live and endure - she knew it all so well already.

She really, _really_ did not need to recall every punch, every punishment, every deprivation, every injury, every belittlement, every vile thrust, every single moment she had wanted to die, had Hikari not been there to give her a reason to live.

For so, so long, Light, the man who had been of her dreams, had become her new addiction, her new solace. Her new reason to be ‘real’ and feel again. She had never known love, actual love, being in a relationship. So when he found her, offered all of that to her, she took it, blind and blissful.

Such a pretty, pretty face he was, only to turn into a pretty big waste of her time. But he was **such** a beautiful monster, _how_ could she have possibly resisted? A monster, deceiving without lies, that sweetly drew in so many airy, naïve butterflies, right into the chains of his web. He was an elaborate parlour trick, the perfect counterfeit, reflecting whatever anyone desired, becoming what they needed, bidding his time... Till he had them right where he wanted them.

0000000000000000000000

It was not going well. At all.

He had walked into this with high hopes of obtaining justice for Misa at the best of his ability. And he honestly had expected it to be more than a simple probability - all she went through...

Consequently, he thoroughly presented Misa’s side of the story, highlighting _every_ instance of the abuse, and much worse, which lasted throughout the course of almost ten agonizing years. Again, his heart ached over the fact she waited as long to come forward and **_finally_** speak up.

_However_ , of all the eventual counter-arguments he had expected from the party of opposition, they brought up the one thing that would _not_ , by _any_ known means possible, help Misa’s case.

His client was under an established conservatorship. A _freaking_ **_conservatorship_** , with none other than bloody _Yagami Light_ as her conservator.

This was bad. This was **_really_** bad. And Raye was beyond horrified at the moment, and he didn’t even bother to hide even a smidgen of it. They could have claimed that Misa was a liar, a gold-digger, an addict, a person playing the victim, anything at all... But **_this_** ugly veracity?

“ _Why_ don’t I know about this?” demanded Raye tightly, knowing instantly that this very little he could do to turn this in their favour, before his jaw practically dropped then, upon noting his Misa’s blanched expression, drenched with dumbfounded bewilderment and confusion “Amane-sen, you- **_You_** didn’t know?”

Indeed she didn’t. When had this happened? Clearly without her knowing, so behind her back.

She was perfectly aware of her present predicament of course.

This was in fact basically showcasing her as someone ‘mentally disordered’, who was _utterly_ incapable of taking care of herself - and by extension, others even less - or making any financial, medical or legal decisions of her own. Meaning anything _legal_ , like say a plea for separation or a demand for custody, was off the table, since she was not in the ‘right mind’ to request either.

All in all, if the Court Judge’s entirely unimpressed look directed towards her then was of _any_ indication, she was a fool, if not simply delusional, for her filing a complaint in the first place.

While Misa despaired and her lawyer stressed under Light’s quiet, watchful gaze, Thierry was practically jubilant. Raye had a fairly good reputation, but if word came out he was incapable of defending his own - sort of - daughter...Now, wouldn’t **_THAT_** make for some juicy gossip?

Grinning at the thought of having the upper hand for once against the other lawyer, he twisted the knife even further, deeper: “I mean, it’s obvious, no? Almost committing suicide, multiple times. Drowning down pills, to the point of overdose. Imagining things that are not there, right in the middle of the night, with the bedroom door locked. Like, _please_. Does this sound like a person who take care of others? I’d think not, wouldn’t you agree, your Honour?”

As Raye grimaced, agonizing over what he could possibly use to counter the opposition, Misa was about to sigh when her breath caught in her throat loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. Blue eyes aghast, her expression had morphed into horror: “...Wait. How do you know that?”

Misunderstanding what had stood out to her, Thierry, getting an even big head, shrugged: “Do you think you can fool anyone, Amane-san? We know what you are. You are an unfit parent to my client’s child. You cannot care for her, when you can’t even take care of _yourself_.”

“How do you. _Know_ that?” the young blonde woman insisted, ignoring his every single word, incapable of registering anything else in favour of that one line, sticking out like a sore thumb.

As the law dictated it, Court Judge Kenwood had been wordlessly paying a close eye and ear to the case unfolded in front of her, each side defending the two halves of this complicated couple respectively, and she had to say, something felt a bit off...

Not about Penber Raye, fighting hard for his client like he always would, righteous as he was. Not about Amane Misa, who was clearly a victim but Mary could vouch for the other’s state of mind - the young woman did not **_look_** completely sane, but maybe this was because of her ex’s abuse. Not even about Morello Thierry, who as per usual wanted to win, just for the sake of winning and a good payday.

It was _Yagami Light_ who bothered Mary. Just **_looking_** at him made her skin crawl. Call it an older woman’s savoir and intuition, or the fact the young man seemed too calm, too confident, too casually disconnected, but she did NOT like him.

Even so, it was both unfair and unlawful to ‘judge’ based on a feeling, and so the Court Judge decided to address the young distressed woman directly, hoping for some clarification: “Amane-san, tell me. How long have you been experiencing these hallucinations?”

Startled by what rang out like a condemning accusation to her, Misa’s jaw dropped open: “ _Hallu_ -? They were as _REAL_ as the air you and I breathe, your Honour! Ever since I entered that house, and they just...won’t _stop_. And I’m **not** -!”

She had been about to say she hadn’t been the **_only one_** to experience them. Hikari had too. But that would mean getting her daughter involved, and Misa didn’t want that. She was trying to keep her child away from her and Light’s mess, not drag her poor darling further into this...

Letting out a shuddering breath, Misa closed her eyes, trying to think, specifically over what the blond male had said: _‘Imagining things that are not there, right in the middle of the night, with the bedroom door locked.’_

Logically speaking, Thierry could only present what her ex told him. Yet Light couldn’t know - he hadn’t been there.

**_But then_** she caught her ex throwing an exasperated look at his lawyer, who in turn sheepishly glanced away, whereas she felt her heart plummet to her stomach. Light _knew_. She absolutely had no clue how, but _he **knew**_ , about what had been happening to her within Takada’s house...

“Again, what do you _know_ , Morello-san?” stressed out Misa, the mess of her emotions now somewhere between apprehension and ire, before snapping her head towards her ex-boyfriend “Or rather, what do **_you_** know?”

“Ho? Are you really asking me that, Misa? Should I say,” smirked Light, poised and perfect as always, pausing deliberately as he arched an eyebrow “ _What_ I know?”

“You already started, haven’t you?” accused Misa heatedly, pointing in Thierry’s direction, since the latter had literally been Light’s voice all this time “Please don’t hold back for me, when you do NOT care.”

“Can we please maintain our calm here?” intervened Raye cordially while staring wide-eyed at Misa, wondering what on earth had gotten into her all of a sudden “Do you have anyone to support your claims, Amane-san, and perhaps disprove Yagami-san’s?”

“Since you’re SO adamant in your claims of ‘not’ being crazy,” intoned Thierry confidently, even boldly making quotation marks for his earlier words “How about asking your lil’ girl-?”

“Don’t you DARE bring my daughter into this,” snapped Misa, **_and_** Light, at the same time, both glaring daggers at the blond lawyer who stiffened, smugness wavering, before the sound of the gavel calling everyone to order startled them all.

“Morello and Yagami. Enough,” ordered Mary sternly, waiting for absolute silence before she regarded the young blonde woman thoughtfully “And how old is your daughter, Amane-san?”

Before Misa **_could_** speak, Thierry was the one to reply, oblivious to the dark glares he earned from every _single_ person in the room. Including the stenographer. Did this guy EVER zip it?

But he wasn’t going to, the only intention being to win this case, no matter the consequences. It was good money after all.

“She’s just nine,” divulged the blond male, shrugging “Getting her statement won’t be viable, nor will it help if we send Amane-san to go fetch her. Who **_knows_** what she’ll have her say-?”

Light abruptly slammed his hand down, leading his lawyer to snap his mouth shut and eye his client warily, the latter who looked close to rage: “We are NOT dragging my child into this. Speaking of which, where **_is_** she, Misa?”

While Court Judge Kenwood and Raye silently narrowed their eyes upon getting to ‘see’ the young male, Misa tried to remain strong and calm, facing him head on: “Safe. From you.”

“And _you’re_ the epitome of a safety blanket, is what you’re saying, hm?”

“...You _know_ I’m not.”

“Then WHY is she with _you_?”

“Better than with you. Besides, she’s in good hands. Lawliet-chan is-”

Light’s lips parted slightly, an aghast air to his features, breaking them, if only for a moment: “...You brought _Lawliet_?”

Knowing well how much her ex-boyfriend had always disapproved of her friendships, Lawliet specifically, Misa clenched her teeth and stuck out her chin defiantly: “He is _my FRIEND_.”

“He’s **_a nutcase_** ,” bit back Light, tone lethal “Just like every other friend you’ve ever made-”

“THAT IS _ENOUGH_!!” near yelled the Court Judge, bringing this ex-lover’s quarrel to a halt “Yagami-san, for the _last_ time, if you cannot help yourself from badgering your girlf-”

“Ex-girlfriend,” corrected Misa and Light in one breath, neither gazing away from each other, leading Mary to stare with a baffled expression. What a convoluted **_ex-_** couple these two were.

“Fine,” conceded the Court Judge with a sigh, while rubbing at one of her temples “Be it as it may, if you persist, I will personally make sure to persecute you for harrying, screw the law.”

“ _Your Honour_!” both wide-eyed lawyers chided, but Court Judge Kenwood was not having it.

“I **said** , SCREW IT!!”

While the lawyers attempted to reason with the Court Judge, who was beyond done, Misa regarded her ex, who had suddenly broken eye contact with her, in favour of checking his phone with a frown.

Tilting her head, she did not look away. She was not good at discerning Light’s expressions. And if she didn’t know any better, she would guess he looked irritated right now. As well as... _Uncomfortable_?

Why would he-?

Her eyes widened. Oh. The shift had occurred as soon as she had mentioned Lawliet. ... _Why_?

All of a sudden, Light’s phone rang, disturbing the row nearby and drawing all the attention on to him as he swiftly replied, without a single care in the world: “Hello. Yes. I- Wait, what? No. Just- I need you here. Yes. Now.”

“Yagami-san, do you mind?” frowned Raye, appalled by the other’s display of utter disregard.

And he wasn’t the only one, Mary Kenwood’s face blazing a furious crimson: “ _YA-GA-MI_!!”

Utterly unperturbed, the auburn-haired male gave the Judge a flat smile: “Bathroom break. Please excuse me.”

And just like that, Yagami Light walked himself straight of the courtroom, leaving everyone gaping, rather dumbfounded. Even the stenographer had stopped typing in her sheer disbelief, before she discreetly made to catch Misa’s attention with a soft whisper: “Say, miss? How on earth have you put up with him for so long?”

The young women simply smiled. She had been asking herself the exact same question lately. Other than that, she could not quite bring herself to focus on anything else at the moment, mind still reeling, as she struggled a bit to make sense of what she might have just uncovered.

It honestly would sound far-fetched to most, but this _was_ Light. It didn’t surprise her as much. What _did_ surprise her, was **how** and **when** did he find out? How did he even know _where_ she and Hikari had been, for the past week or so? Only four people were aware, and unless they had all turned against her, which was both impossible and improbable, they would never tell...

As more questions and uncertainties arose amid her overwrought, hectic, stifling thoughts, her own phone abruptly began ringing too, making her jump. She had forgotten to put it on silent.

Quickly pulling it out to switch it off, she paused entirely at the name blinking back at her. She couldn’t ignore this call.

But unlike her ex, the young woman glanced up at the Court Judge instead while pointing at her cell phone, which Misa had hurriedly muted: “May I?”

Still fuming after Light, Court Judge Kenwood instantly obliged with the younger woman’s request, standing up and waving a hand: “Might as well. Adjourned. All back in an hour. **_All_**. Otherwise, I’m shoving this case straight out the window, while Yagami can go to hell, and Amane-san can take full custody.”

Misa and Raye both perked up, pleasantly surprised and positively beaming as they grinned at each other, while Thierry’s face fell dramatically, before he hurriedly tried to appeal to the now retreating Judge: “But your Honour, I _promise_ you that she’s utterly unfit to-”

The stenographer almost guffawed when Mary slammed her door right in the blond lawyer’s face, whereas Raye collected his papers for later, and Misa walked out the main door, phone in hand.

Now sooner had she crossed the threshold however, the young woman came face to face with Light, still on the phone, before they both locked eyes, indifferent red meeting emotional blue.

He quirked an eyebrow quizzically at her, to which Misa gestured at her still ringing mobile, leading him to nod in understanding and move further down the hall. Which made her stare. Why would he-?

Shoving her ex out of her thoughts, Misa focused on answering the person persistently calling her, her tone somewhat hushed and bit irate as she held her phone to her ear: “Hello? Mello? Why are you calling me, dear? Right now, I’m-”

Not letting her finish, a fairly conceited, sardonic voice interrupted her lazily: _“‘Why HELLO, it’s been awhile, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN, Mello? So nice to hear from you, after SO long.’”_

“...I’m so sorry, Mello. I- And how are you doin-?”

Mihael Keehl Lawliet, one of her friend’s two younger brothers, nicknamed Mello by friends and family alike, tactlessly talked right over her: _“Honestly, no time for chit-chat and the idle dillydally, okay, darlin’?”_

“But you _just_ -”

_“Nah-ah. Listen. Big brother called and asked me-”_

Her brewing frustration with the other evaporated then, curiosity replacing it: “Lawliet-chan?”

_“...Do I have another older brother?_ ” was the other’s rather annoyed reply “ _So, he asked me to look into a couple of things, since he’s busy babysitting - that was the joke of the century, by the way, thank you for that. So, Mattie and I - along with idiot Near - did a bit of digging.”_

She waited for Lawliet’s younger brother to continue, but when he didn’t, loudmouth as he was, Misa hastily grew concerned, halting in her restless pacing: “Is-? Is something wrong?”

 _“I have,”_ began Mihael, a faint hesitation in his usually confident voice she did **_not_** at all _“Some **disturbing** news for you, darlin’.” _

“No more than my last few days,” admitted Misa tightly, holding back an exhausted sigh, her eyes drifting over to the clock above upon the wall, making sure she was not taking too long.

 _“This is worse,”_ warned Mello tactlessly, causing the young woman a spike in anxiety she really didn’t need right now, before he questioned lightly _“So, what do you know of your ex?”_

Confused by the sudden change in conversation, Misa considered the question: “More or less, I guess. We didn’t really... _talk_ much.”

_“Uh-huh, uh-huh. How FASCINATING,”_ drawled out the much younger male, with excessive sarcasm _“Darlin’, next time I need to know about_ **that** _, I’ll call a phone sex agency instead.”_

“MELLO!” she all but yelled, before a hand flew up her mouth, face flushing a mortified red “ _You_ **asked**!”

He scoffed and she could just about imagine him rolling his eyes at her: _“Never asked THAT. Ew.”_

“You **_little_** -”

_“ANYWAYS,”_ cut off Mihael with a syrupy, smug voice, causing Misa to be half-tempted to hang up on him _“Did you know that the bastard dates as much as one would change boxers? He’s a REAL womanizer. Oh, and a real Man-izer too - he doesn’t discriminate apparently. And fucking hell and back, he’s dated a DAMN lot.”_

“I know,” she uttered softly, not sure what to add to that. This wasn’t news to Misa actually.

_“Yeah, well, sorry to break this to ya, darlin’, but he also dated **while** he was with you by the looks of it.”_

The young woman froze, heart jumping to her throat. Hold on, WHAT. _That_ , she didn’t know. When? How? _Why_? ... ** _Who_**?

“...I don’t care,” she eventually said, her voice blank as she slowly gazed in her ex’s direction, not sure what to think or feel.

 _“Clearly, you DO - it’s in your voice. Listen, darlin’, Yagami Light’s someone who takes, or accepts, someone as his lover_ ONLY _if they are of any use to him. I can list them and all, with the reasons, but I’m sure this you care nothing about.”_

Suddenly distracted by Light, still on the phone, entering what **_clearly_** was the ladies’ lavatory down at the end of the hall, much to her utter bewilderment, Misa vaguely replied to the other: “Is there a point here, Mello?”

_“The POINT, darlin’, is that we have reasons to believe that there **is** a ghost in that house, but not a **real** one. Rather, one that’s supposed to scare you, and make you think you’re losing your mind. Which you’re not, I can assure you. Because everything that happened was real, done by a very **REAL** person.”_

What Mihael was insinuating was **_very_** worrying actually, reminding her of something Lawliet himself had jokingly suggested. But even though she had an inkling now of what had actually been going down in that house, Misa couldn’t bring herself to accept it: “I- I don’t follow.”

_“Did you know the house was rented to someone, before you and your kid moved in? Better yet, the house is currently under their name, and according to the records, they haven’t **left**.” _

“Mello,” she said, tone slightly warning as this was all starting to sound both crazy and scary. 

_“Even better? The person’s name is Mikami Teru.”_

She nearly dropped her phone, her alarmed heart skipping too many beats for it to be healthy. _Mikami Teru_? She knew that name. She knew it well. He was one of Light’s closest friends, back in their University days - Teru had been studying Human Resources. So close, the two had even dated at some point. _Had been_ dating, up until a week before Light approached her...

“I still don’t understand what you’re getting at, Mello. Teru and Light know each other, _sure_ , but that’s all just a coincidence, no?” she mused, feeling as though her every word, along with all of her thoughts and feelings, were simply _stifling her_ “Even if he was doing what Light told him in the end, if **_that’s_** what you’re getting at, what does **_any_** of this have to do with-?”

Misa hadn’t realized she had been moving, even less that she **had** moved from where she last was, standing right beside the courtroom’s entrance, only to now be all the way down the hall, in front of the ladies’ room, handle being pried open by her free hand.

But before concerns and questions could even arise and scratch the surface of her mind, such as _why_ and _how_ did she get all the way here, without even noticing or feeling herself move, She opened the door, greeted with the sight of Light and Kiyomi, locked in each other’s arms. Bodies pressed snugly against one another. Hands in each other’s hair, as they kissed ardently.

**Nothing** else seemed to matter to Misa then, not even the voice still speaking in her ear: _“Well, I pulled up a few pictures - you know I can do that. Teru wasn’t the only one he dated. No clue when, but he also has been with none other than a certain big shot, female CEO of some casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer - Uniqlo, I think. And her name is-”_

Misa did not need to hear the rest. She was _seeing_ it. Live. Piecing the broken puzzle together.

Mihael’s concerned voice shattered to pieces as the young blonde woman dropped her phone, promptly alerting the other two to the fact that they were no longer alone, which led them to look her way, before he quirked his lips upwards, eyes glittering, while his current partner’s flushed features shifted to horrified, as she instantly became as white as a sheet.

Looking at Misa directly in the eye, Light languidly licked his lips, before slowly leaning his head upon Kiyomi’s, brushing his lips against her forehead as he held the other woman closer, leading the latter to splutter and pull away, staring at him wide-eyed like he had lost his mind.

No. No, he hadn’t. It was **clear** Light had done this on purpose, _wanting_ Misa to see, wanting her to know. Either to rile her up or hurt her even further - as if he hadn’t done enough of that.

So, she **_really_** couldn’t care less. The Light she had come to gradually know pulled at strings, taking advantage wherever he could, however he wanted. _Mind games, and more mind games._

This wasn’t new to her.

But _her_? Misa had not even considered that. At all. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.

It had been no secret back then in their University years, that the three of them - Shiori, Kiyomi and Misa - had all had varying levels of a crush on the beautiful and outwardly gallant charmer that was Yagami Light, but only Shiori had actually acted on it - though Light chose Misa instead - while their other friend explicitly stated that he was _‘really too much for her’_ and _‘not quite her type.’_

_‘NOT SO MUCH APPARENTLY. LIAR. TRAITOR. MONSTER. YOU’RE **JUST** LIKE HIM.’_

Once again, despite not fully knowing the voice that had spoken up in her head, just now, nor where it came from, Misa found herself agreeing with it once more, as she took a step back.

And while Light remained a figure of perfect ice, Kiyomi had gone white, grey eyes wide, pleading, her hands shaking as she slowly held them out towards Misa, and tentatively walked forward, as though she wanted to reach out to the other. Or rather, make sure she still could.

“M-Misa, hon, I-”

Misa didn’t answer. She didn’t yell. She didn’t curse. She didn’t cry. She just turned. And ran.

0000000000000000000000

Staring up at the plain ceiling, with tired and jaded eyes, Lawliet, **_BORED_** out of his mind, decided he was no cut for ‘babysitting’ after all.

But Hikari wasn’t the problem. At all. In spite of the little odd quirks she had here and there -which reminded him of Misa - and the slight resemblance she had to her father in terms of ingenuity and distrust, Mini-Misa was actually a joy to watch over. He truly regretted nothing.

After _Stupid Deaths_ , they had played chess - with him pretending to let her win, when she actually gave him a run for his money, _bloody hell_ she was good - and then idly watched the telly for a bit - he had to admit that _Sugar Sugar Rune_ was a pretty good anime - before Hikari excused herself, wanting to go to her room. Which of course Lawliet absolutely no issue with. Who would say no to ‘me time’?

Now ‘by himself’, as it were, he had taken it upon himself to finish up on the work he had been able to bring along, upon such short notice, and was now flipping through the channels. Hence his boredom. It wasn't something he _wanted_ to, sitting here, doing 'nothing' - TV was a waste of time to him, considering he had other priorities.

He sounded selfish, but this was the truth. He didn't want to be a bad friend - notably not to Misa of all people - but he didn't want to be a lying one either. Again, liars were the absolute worst of monsters. And the last thing he wanted, was to be one too.

Switching the television off, Lawliet sighed, rubbing his hands over his face before he got up and began pacing, to and fro, arms crossed as he pondered on what to do.

He _could_ help tidy, since Misa didn’t have the time nor mind to finish. Then again, he wasn’t the tidiest person, so he would surely make more of a mess than be of any help at all.

Cook something then, perhaps? Well, it had been a while since he had. A trait he had picked up very, very early on, since he basically had to-

Lawliet's entire being went on stand still upon hearing a noise all of a sudden. A noise _within_ the house itself. He _would_ have dismissed it, either as it being Hikari or the house creaking under the weather being wild again. But the sound was _too_ quiet, _too_ discreet in the already rather silent house. And he definitely wouldn't have heard it at all, had the telly still been on...

With Misa’s every fears on his mind, he rushed out into the hall, almost instantly skidding to a halt, dark eyes going wide while his heart jumped up to his throat upon witnessing a shadow, just turning the corner of the staircase. And slowly, silently going up.

With no hesitation, Lawliet, afraid for Hikari, went up after it, attempting both to be fast and quiet, mind reeling loud with tons of questions. So, there _was_ a ghost? Was this the one Misa had been seeing? What did it want? Was it a part of this house? And why couldn’t he _sense_ it?

Flying up the stairs three by three without noise, he dashed straight over to Hikari's room, skin prickling with goosebumps upon finding her door _already_ open before Lawliet just _froze_ then, dark eyes going wider than wide.

With the window blown wide open, in the middle of the absolutely freezing room, stood a person dressed entirely in black - some sort of full-on bodysuit - from neck to toe, dark hair cascading to their shoulders, a syringe in one of their gloved hands. But _Hikari_ , was **not** there.

Lawliet must have made some sort of sound, because the ‘shadow’ swiftly snapped around then in order to glance his way, leading Misa’s friend to gape, startled and seriously horrified: “...You’re fuckin’ **_real_** _?_ ”

The other person narrowed their eyes at him dangerously, before promptly after that lunging straight for Lawliet, rearranging their hold on the syringe in a way that could pass for a knife, ready to be stabbed down in the first vital spot they could hit.

Shoving all his queries and concerns at the back his mind for now, Lawliet sprang into action, evading the very first blow by a hair's breadth by ducking low, before ramming into the other, sending them both crashing to the floor.

A struggle ensued then, with Lawliet trying both to disarm the other and keep the needle away from him, while the other was determined on either jabbing the syringe in his skin. Or his eye.

Gritting his teeth, Misa’s friend sharply jabbed his elbow into the other’s side, following up with a brutal head-butt to the side, catching his opponent right in the temple and sending them reeling backwards with a hiss.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lawliet caught the other’s wrist fast, and slammed it down onto the wooden floors, which managed to smash the syringe to bits, leading him to smirk in triumph.

But with his focus deterred, his adversary was quick to throw a vicious punch, which caught him square in the jaw and made him to see stars, blood on his tongue as he landed down hard.

Blow upon blow began to rain furiously upon Lawliet then, barely able to block them with the other straddling and pinning him to the floor firmly.

After a hit to his face again, another to his side, and so much more, Lawliet grew aggravated. All of this was going to hurt and bruise like hell later, damn it.

His frenzied opponent let out a sound of startled surprise when Misa’s friend wrapped his legs around the other so suddenly, Lawliet putting all the strength he could muster in drawing his foe forwards.

Before following that by grabbing the other’s hair in a tightened fist, flipping their positions and ramming his opponent’s head face first into the floor.

In pain and fairly dazed, the young goth male had trouble breathing, but remained on guard, only relaxing his grip upon noting that he had knocked the other out, blood steadily caking the side of their face.

Too bad they were _still_ breathing. Should Lawliet be petty and kick the other around some? For revenge’s sake?

He _would_ have. He **_really_** wanted to. But he had something much more pressing on his mind. Lawliet needed to find Hikari, make sure she was safe and sound.

Groaning as he ached all over and shakily got to his feet, he went to check around the room, calling out for her gently, in case she had been frightened or was scared to come out of hiding. He checked under the bed, in the closets... Nothing.

Closing the window to keep the howling cold from making the freezing room any chillier, Lawliet then ventured around the house, looking everywhere he possibly could, calling out louder every time: “Mini-Misa? Hikari? Where are you, kid? ...Can you hear me? _HIKARI_?!”

But no matter where and how hard he looked, every nook and corner, Hikari was _nowhere_ to be found. Like she had vanished into thin air. Or like the ground had swallowed her up whole.

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“MISA!”

Running away without thinking, fleeing without listening, Misa ran out of the courthouse. She ran, and ran, not caring that she couldn’t breathe, not caring that her heels were killing her. She just wanted AWAY. Away from the reality she had just seen. Just far, far, SO FAR **_away_**.

A hand caught her wrist, halting her all too curtly in her momentum, leading to Misa to snatch her now throbbing arm out of the grasp of the offending person attempting to reach out to her.

Kiyomi was breathless as well, shaking like a leaf, pale as a sheet, her desperately hands held out as if to hold on to the young blonde woman: “ _Please_ , I-”

“ _How_?” interrupted Misa harshly, tone sharp, glare of ice “HOW could you do this? To **me**?!”

“Mi-”

“ _NO_! Don’t want to hear it, not ANOTHER WORD, you _lying_ -!” the young woman halted, her jaw dropping in horror, everything happening much too fast for her to get it all in one go “You...lied. You _LIED_ to ME. You **_LIED_**!! RIGHT TO MY FUCKING FACE!!!”

At this point, in spite of the desolateness the weather had made the streets, curious people had stopped to stare at the commotion, wondering what was going on, speculating upon scenarios. A lover’s spat? Friends with benefits? What _was_ going on?

But to Misa and Kiyomi, the rest of the world didn’t exist right now, both focused entirely on each other, as the former raged against the betrayer, while the latter tried to calm the betrayed.

“Please, don’t be mad, Misa. And it’s not _just_ me - it was never just me! Yagami-kun also d-”

“I couldn’t care less who _else_ Light dated - I KNOW he did! But _YOU?_ You? How DARE-?!”

“I _NEVER_ wanted you to find out at all! You were my friend, Mi, I didn’t want to hurt you!!!”

Absolutely disgusted, Misa almost threw up in her own mouth. ...Didn’t want to **hurt** her? Going behind her back willingly, with her abusive lover of all people, WASN’T hurting her?!

Kiyomi flinched at the deadly blue eyes locking onto hers then, screaming ‘betrayed’ loudly: “...Did you know?”

“ _Misa_ , I-”

“Did. You. **_KNOW_**?! What he would **_do_** to me? How _much_ he hurt me?! How **many** times-?!”

Shivering and ignorant to the tears that had start to fall again, Misa couldn’t end that sentence, not needing to recall _each_ and _every_ time Light would force himself onto her - when it was already engrained too deep within her mind and skin.

“Were **_you_** in on it too? Hm? You, Light and whoever? Trying me to look, sound _INSANE_?!!”

The other’s dead silence was all the young blonde woman needed to hear, causing her let out a curt, wounded scream, shaking her head, one thought on her mind. Getting away from _this_ -

“ ** _DON’T_** _touch_ _me_!” yelled Misa violently, yanking her hand away yet again, glaring murder.

Only Kiyomi was nowhere near her, having remained frozen where Misa had last left her, staring at her blonde friend with wide eyes: “...I didn’t, I- I’m too far to reach you- **_MISA_**!!!!”

Confused, but still livid, the young blonde woman was about ready to scream at her so-called friend, but halfway in doing so she realized then why the other woman was calling out for her. In absolute alarm.

Blue eyes went wide, when she saw the front of a huge truck, out of nowhere, heading straight for her, looming like death, going fast, too fast. And nowhere close to stopping.

But Misa didn’t move. She **_couldn’t_**. It was too late. In much less than a few seconds, she’d- Blue eyes snapped shut: _‘I’m so sorry, baby... But Mummy’s going to die. I love you, Hikari-’_

A force to be reckoned with crashed hard into the young woman’s body, sending her tumbling down onto the road, the side of her face scraping against it. But oddly, Misa felt no other pain. Was it because she was already dead? Was this what death felt like? So sudden? So painless?

Many things were occurring all at once, so much so, she could hardly register it all in one go. Tyres screeched. Weight akin to sleep paralysis firmly held her down. Snow upon her cheek. A deafening shriek. The sharp sound of a sudden collision. The scent of blood filling the air...

Screams filled the freezing atmosphere, as bystanders rushed forward, some already calling for an ambulance, others asking if she was alright or hurt, saying they were **_so_** sorry. ...Sorry? Whatever for?

Dazed and disorientated, Misa finally was able to get up back, finding blood coating her body, splashed vividly across her face as well as her whole upper body. Only to be quite startled to see she was _still_ in one piece. And that all the blood and gore she now wore, wasn’t hers at all.

Suddenly, she could no longer hear those around her, could no longer see them, going numb. Her entire focus was solely riveted on the body lain out before her, just a slight distance away, legs and torso mangled beyond recognition, horridly shaking arms outstretched towards Misa, blood gushing past trembling lips, wide bloodshot eyes glued onto the blonde near pleadingly.

Mind blank, Misa, on auto-pilot, slowly, shakily got up, utterly oblivious, if not uncaring, to the immediate warnings around her that she could have a concussion or worse, before making her way towards the young dark-haired woman now vividly decorating the tarmac of the road.

Falling to her knees besides the one she had once called a friend, Misa’s lower lip trembled when the other reached out to her and held her hand in a desperate grip: “...K-Ki-yomi-chan-”

“I-I...l-love you, M-Misa, I r- _really_...do,” breathed out Kiyomi with dimming eyes, her tone soft and slow, as she struggled to hold on for a least a moment longer “I j-just... I just l-loved Ya-gami-k-kun... M-more. I’m so...s-sorry.”

Takada Kiyomi simply went slack then, head and hands dropping down, dying there and then, in the desolate cold, bleeding out slow, all crushed and deformed, while Misa stared in shock. And _bewilderment_.

...What on earth was this? What the hell was happening? What the heck had happened? **_How_**?

The young woman was not a genius, but she could easily tell. Kiyomi had been too far to have pushed Misa out of the way. And TOO far away for her to have been hit by the truck instead...

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Misa’s entire being was numb. And it wasn’t because of the cold. She barely felt it, despite the snow piling up upon her shoulders and head, gradually seeping through her warm clothes.

Having spoken to the authorities as they took statements, Raye came to sat down next her on the side of the pavement, looking her way worriedly as he gently brushed the snow off of her. She didn’t react. She didn’t even blink, yet alone acknowledge his presence.

The young lawyer was at loss of what to do. This was the second time - that he knew of - that Misa had to witness a death occur right in front of her eyes, he could only imagine how utterly damaging and traumatizing it must be.

“Amane-san, I-”

“Where’s Light?”

Raye blinked, very surprised by the question, and how rather misplaced it felt: “Yagami-san? I honestly don’t know. Last I heard however, it seemed as though he had left.”

 _That_ seemed to garner a reaction from the young woman, who stiffened, blue eyes widening: “... _Left_?”

“Apparently,” continued the lawyer absently with an exasperated sigh, not at all noticing the utter expression of horror Misa now wore, like she was choking on her breath “The judge is very much annoyed, but Morello-san managed to convince him to reschedule. If anything goes south then, the judge will be more than happy to give you full custody of you daughter-”

“Light...is _gone_?”

It was only then that Raye looked and he nearly shrunk away at the sight of the young woman. Her features were simply **_terrifying_** , somewhere between drowning in alarm...And murderous.

“Um, _yes_?” he swallowed hard, not knowing what to make of her vivid reaction “Amane-san, what are you-? Are you... _alright_ -?”

Misa just stood up, snow tumbling off of her person, as she glanced around for her fallen bag: “I need to go.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, _what_?”

To say the lawyer was simply confused or concerned was by far an immense understatement. What on earth was going on? But before he could actually voice his query, the young woman looked him dead in the eye then, her features and tone _eerily_ blank: “Can I borrow your car?”

“ _Wha_ -?” 

“I _need_ to get to my daughter, Penber-san, right now,” she declared firmly, a sense of urgency within her shaking hand now held outstretched towards him “May I please borrow your car?”

Beyond bewildered initially, the lawyer’s eyes then widened, as he assumed he finally got it: “You think _Yagami-san_ went to-? Let me drive you there-”

But Misa was shaking her head at him frenetically, not letting him finish: “...You _can’t_ come. I- I have to go alone.”

 _Have to_? What did she-? A sense of foreboding seized the man, sending chills down his spine.

“Penber-san, _please_?”

Realizing **_nothing_** he would say could change her mind, Raye reluctantly relented, fishing for his car keys and hoping he was making the right choice. Making a choice he wouldn’t regret...

As he handed them out towards her, Misa, _very_ pale, all but snatched them and was just about to dash off without a word, before she paused, and stared his way. And ran into him for a hug.

Not at all expecting it, the lawyer remained in startled stillness, but as he went to return the gesture, the young woman had pulled away, giving him a cryptic look, before just running off, leaving Raye to stand there and stare, perplexed and a bit perturbed.

Unable to get rid of the suffocating rue gnawing at him, the young lawyer fumbled through his pockets for his cell phone, deciding to call his wife, Naomi, to come pick him up. And for a packet of cigarettes. He _really_ needed a smoke. If only to have the ache ebb away from him.

And the truth was, like he had before when it came to this poor girl, he felt useless. He wanted to help her, to comfort her, to _save_ her...but he didn’t know how. Not when she didn’t let him.

“...I **_do_** hope you know what you’re doing, Amane-san,” he whispered softly “Please be safe.”

But little did Raye know, that this would be the very last time he would _ever_ see Amane Misa.

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No luck, Lawliet couldn’t find Hikari **anywhere**. And he was on the verge of losing his mind. She was a _nine_ -year-old girl, how hard was it to find her? She was _petite_ , not **_MINUSCULE_**. And yet, nothing, no Mini-Misa to be found.

And Heavens above knew he looked. He had been spending the last hour doing exactly that, utter _in vain_. He had never thought _Hide n’ Seek_ to be so terrifying. Had the house eaten her? ...What an inane thought.

Did the intruder, now tied to the last banister at the bottom of the staircase, as a precaution, have an accomplice? ...Lawliet hoped not.

If that **_was_** indeed the case, Hikari could be long gone by now, and he had _absolutely_ no way to go after her, not without a vehicle, and definitely not in this weather. Which so happened to be his sole consolation as well. If _he_ could not go anywhere, then neither could anyone else. And as _lovely_ as this positivity was, he was brought back to square one, the crux of his worry. **Where** was Hikari?

The young goth male _had_ considered shaking the damn ‘shadow’ awake, demanding answers - heavens knew everyone needed. And he had actually tried that, but either the individual was an excellent pretender, or Lawliet had really knocked him out _way_ too hard - because not even a bucket of water did the trick.

Running his hands over his face, he truly had no idea what to do. He was too worried to think.

In spite of the harsh, cold weather, his body and head aching like hell due to the earlier brawl, Lawliet had taken it upon himself to fly out into the village, knocking around at every door and asking if anyone has seen Misa’s little girl. To no avail, alas. No one had seen her. Point in fact, they added it was about impossible for anyone to be out in the unrelenting, cruel snow. He agreed. Why would the little girl even go out in the first place?

Calling the police didn’t seem to be any help either because there no signal - blasted weather. His heart unhealthily skipped a couple of beats. He was very, _very_ worried about the girl, but what _on earth_ was he supposed to tell **Misa**? ‘Oh, hey, hon, I lost your kid, sorry about that.’ As if his friend didn’t have **_enough_** distress and dilemmas as it was, this would _eradicate_ her-

Lawliet stilled at the sudden sound of glass, tinkling broken in the distance. ...What was that? Was it the white, cold winds increasing their violence? Someone trying to force their way in? ...Was it Hikari?

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, the young goth male rushed over to the kitchen, where he thought he had heard the noise emanating from the house’s back door - located here: “Mini-Mi-!

Ah, no. Far from the kid, it was the bleeding boyfriend of the year, who had come a-knocking. And the young goth male saw red, fists and teeth clenching: “ _You_ , fucking, little, bloody bas-”

Anything else Lawliet had been about to add to that died upon his tongue, as he found himself with the silencer of a gun pointed straight between his widening eyes, leading him to stiffen. Light was already dangerous enough to be a threat. Make him armed and dangerous, and he became a triple threat. That maths was _totally_ screwed up, and Lawliet blamed his concussion. Entirely. He needed painkillers, pronto-

“I can easily say I’m not happy to see you either, Lawliet,” intoned Light, cutting through the other’s hectic thoughts like a knife, before gesturing to the inside casually “May I come in?”

Lawliet glared, but held his tongue as he lazily moved out of Light’s way, hissing angrily. Pretty much childish of him, that he’d admit, but he couldn’t do much with the pain he was in and a gun trained at his head. What was Light even _expecting_ him to say? **_‘Nope, no can do’_**?

“So, I know where Misa is, but where’s my daughter, Lawliet?” demanded the auburn-haired male when they reached the main hall, and when the other didn’t answer, Lawliet felt the gun press against his temple viciously “I believe asked you a question, if you would care to reply.”

“...I have no idea, Yagami, I don’t know,” replied Lawliet with a calm tone that did not match the pace of his erratic heartbeat. He would rather deal with ghosts any day than Yagami Light.

“It’s true, Light-kun,” uttered the now wakened ‘shadow’, all his previous murderous venom directed at Lawliet replaced by something, akin to adoration, as he glanced up towards Light “This guy looked all over the house. He even searched throughout the village, I believe. Regrettably, I don’t think your daughter is here at all.”

Without a word, the auburn-haired male looked down at the man clad in black, as if the male beneath him was some sort of worm, before he reached out to pat his head, like he was now a dog of some kind. But the other seemed _SO_ happy for the meagre attention, he almost purred.

Damn, Lawliet _surely_ had some kind of concussion, what the hell were _any_ of these thoughts? He just turned the guy into three different animals. Also, was there _anybody_ Yagami **_hadn’t_** slept with? When Misa had mentioned the guy was bi, he had assumed bipolar, not bisexual. And speaking of his childhood friend, what the hell had possessed her to date him? Like _why_?

It was like Misa was drawn, like a moth to a flame, to the most rotten or the most damaged of individuals. And of course, he himself fit into that equation just as well, but **_Yagami_** was just-

“Would you be so kind, Lawliet, as to untie Mikami for me?” spoke up the aforementioned, slicing abruptly through the young goth male’s restless thoughts “My hands are a little busy.”

_‘No duh,’_ scowled Lawliet as he reluctantly did as he was told, squatting down gingerly, as to avoid worsening the ache in his throbbing skull, before he reached out to undo the bindings.

Mikami Teru, now free, smirked wickedly, before lashing out fast, clear retaliation for before. And the young goth male had seen it coming from a mile away.

Alas, given he was too mentally and physically drained at the moment, in addition to **_the gun_** , he judged it best not to dodge, thus receiving the first wicked blow straight to his jaw - if he **_EVER_** came out of this unscathed, with no _dislocated jaw_ , maybe he’d start believing in God. Big on that maybe though.

Hitting the ground hard, Lawliet let out a wheeze as kick upon kick was then delivered to his gut, blood quick to stain his teeth as he made an attempt to at least block those vicious blows.

He was barely able to breathe, his body screaming with agony. Help right now would be most welcome - he was not a fighter, bloody damn it.

## Wrenching the goth male’s arms back in an unrelenting, sadistic hold, Teru dug his knee then straight in the curve of Lawliet’s back, pinning the latter down on his stomach, hard and firm.

## Abandoning the struggle, Misa’s friend panted out with difficulty, features twisted in pain, before glaring lividly, his only remaining defiance, when Light caught his chin in a vice grip: “You should have _never_ gotten involved, Lawliet.”

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Praising the luck she had been graced with to be in a car more or less adapted to the harshness of the weather, Misa drove around in the snow like she was inside some spin-off of Mad Max.

Many drivers honked at her, others pulled down their windows simply to yell in the cold and flip her off, as she swerved and sped, breaking every traffic law, only one single goal in mind. Using the back of a hand to wipe away at her tears of mascara, she kept her eyes on the road, blinking away at the blurriness of her vision, before something she zoomed by caught her eye.

A grim graveyard, on her left, everything about it only standing out in a flash as she drove by, her gaze zeroing in on a couple of gravestones, one of them wearing a large cross upon its top. Misa instantly reached for the silver cross pendant around her neck, teeth digging into her lip. But she didn’t stop driving.

Quite the opposite, she hastily shifted gears, going even _faster_ , both hands on the wheel now. She **_had to_** get there. Get over to Hikari. As _quickly_ as she could. As _soon_ as she was able to-

Out of absolutely nowhere, a wild flock of crows and magpies under the guise of a dark cloud, came crashing right into the windshield.

Glass broke and shattered. Blood splattered and plashed. Dark feathers scattered and fluttered.

Panic seeping through her veins, Misa shrieked, desperately trying to regain her slipping grip over the car, the latter _totally_ out of control under the sheer force of the impact, like a bull had rammed into the vehicle’s front.

Tyres releasing a spine-chilling, screeching sound as the car veered brutally all of a sudden, terrified Misa could no longer see a thing, talons, glass shards scratching her face and hands, feathers all up in her field of vision, blood upon her tongue as she screamed at the top of her lungs for dear life.

_DONE FOR._ This was it. _ALL OVER._ This was the end. She was going to die here. _ALONE._ Leaving her poor, sweet daughter-

_‘NO! I won’t die! I will NOT leave Hikari alone, damn it! I CAN’T! PLEASE, I **CAN’T** DIE!”_

Her dreadful thoughts and distressing cries of utter despair were abruptly met with the airbag, biffing her right within the face as the vehicle crashed then and there with exceeding brutality.

For a moment, just nothing. Nothing at all. It had all cut to black and sheer silence for Misa, as if she had just hit a wall. Or like she had just been forced to cut ties with her entire being...

Brain all rattled up within her cranium, bones searing pain and ears ringing, the young woman gradually made to sit upright, but struggling terribly to do so, her movements heavy, sluggish, as she cracked an eye open.

Misa **_instantly_** regretted it. She could barely see a thing, blinding white leading an onslaught upon her vision. Stumbling out blindly of the thrashed driver’s door and into the snow, she let out a hiss, gasping as cold seeped within the oversensitive skin of her bare, bloodied hands.

Steadily regaining her bearings, Misa, with awareness being hers once again, looked around, mind reeling now. What the actual heck had that been just now?

That had been so dreadfully eerie. Not to mention rather unnatural. Crows? And Magpies? Right in the middle of the snow and cold? **_The hell?_**

By the way. Where the hell were they? The young woman had been carefully taking in her surroundings for a moment, as she tried to determine where she was, but for some reason, the snow around her was pristine white and clean.

No cadavers, no feathers, no blood... It was like they had _never_ even been there to begin with. Had she...? Had that been a hallucination?

Heart to her mouth as her blood ran cold, Misa, ever so slowly, looked back at the blue car her sole father-figure had kindly lent her. Well, it _had_ crashed apparently, so that really happened - she had ran right into a tree, the window shield broken to bits and pieces, the front wrecked.

_‘Oh no,’_ she cringed, swaying as her vision began to blur again _‘What will I tell Penber-san?’_

Before anything else could cross her mind, Misa fell like a dead weight into the soft snow, golden blond hair billowing like a flag in the freezing winds as her consciousness faded slow.

_“You went away again, Mummy,” her child said in a quiet, quivering voice “Please, don’t.”_

Blue eyes snapped wide open, that one sentence bringing the young woman back to reality. To her sole purpose and motivation. That she had to **_imperatively_** to get back to her daughter. Come hell or high water. Or the Devil himself. Heck, even Death itself would _not_ stop Misa... 

****

**_At the same time, somewhere else, on a different continent on the other side of the world._ **

****

Somewhere in England, along the richer rural sides of Winchester, stood a private residence, built up from nothing, so long ago before these times, a place called the **_Whammy Residence_**.

As utterly bizarre, if not near ridiculous, as that name sounded, it was actually named as such after its founder, Quilish Whammy, the person who adopted El Lawliet, when he was around sixteen, as well as his younger brothers, when the latter two were seven and two respectively. And it was a _truly_ kind gesture for the old man to undertake, as it would probably be a more than accurate statement to say that the three Lawliets had a rather complicated childhood.

Their dearest father had a habit of ‘sleeping around’, and that’s how all three had completely different mothers. Long story short, when their father was eventually found out, all three mothers did **_not_** take kindly to being cheated on, dumping their children as a vengeance.

Only Senior Lawliet was far from the fatherly - the ‘there to make them, but never there to raise them’ type - and he too was quick to rid himself of the ‘burden’ of taking care of them, especially since El was in a rather rebellious phase at that age, hanging around questionable people, while the other two were basically a kid and a toddler.

Right before Senior Lawliet was about to heartlessly ditch all three, by force - something El fiercely fought against, to the point of paying for it the hard way - to the misfortune of an orphanage and the risk of being separated, an old family friend interfered, saying he would take care of them instead. And that man had been Quilish Whammy.

Generous, kind, considerate and incredibly understanding, the man became the father figure, the parent they never had. And all three profoundly respected him for it. Even in his death, given he had sadly passed away, magnanimously leaving all his inheritance to the three boys. The only family he had, same as them.

Nate River Lawliet, currently fifteen years old, blinked, wondering why he was recalling this. Maybe it was because this very day so happened to be the day they had been adopted by their father - yes, Quilish Whammy was their father, no one else, even if they had kept their names.

Or maybe...

“Fucking voice mail is getting on my bloody fucking nerves, fucking fuck, fuck-ity FUCK!!!”

Nate, commonly known as Near instead, couldn’t hold back an exasperated sigh, rolling his dark eyes, so similar to both his brothers.

Or _maybe_ , it was because he was trying - and failing - to flee the drama that idiot was doing. What **_was_** he doing anyway?

He was about to face the furiously fuming blond male and ask. But then he suddenly realized. He genuinely did not care.

“It’s a good thing we don’t have kids living with us,” pointed out Nate without looking away from his puzzle game, now that he was brought back to reality again, much to his chagrin “You’d be the perfect influence.”

Mihael Keehl Lawliet, now twenty, snapped his head straight in his younger brother’s direction, taking out, whatever his frustrations were, on the former in a **_welcome_** heartbeat: “ _FUCK_ YOU, NEAR!”

“No, thank you. That’d be incest. And adultery at the same time. What would poor Matt say?”

Mihael looked **_dangerously_** close to throttling the younger white-haired male, and probably would have if not for the gentle hand reaching for his shoulder, right before soft lips traced his ear, a sweet, soothing voice accompanying it: “Matt says you should calm down, Mel, neh?”

Melting into the familiar, comforting touch, the blond stared right within the warm honeyed gaze of Mail Jeevas, Mihael/Mello’s boyfriend of four years and affectionately known as Matt by those he was close to. But the names ‘Mel’ and ‘Mattie’ was something intimate to them, and **_theirs_** alone. 

“I’m sure Lawliet’s just a bit busy, Mel, that’s all-”

“No, Mattie,” whispered Mihael tensely, something that was so atypical that it had even Nate completely freeze in his movements “That’s **_not_** like Big Brother at all. Something’s wrong.”

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Freezing all the way down to her aching, blistered bones, Misa, driven solely by her purpose, had no clear notion of how long she had been walking.

The only thing she was certain of was, by some miracle she opted not to question, she had ended up only a short distance from Takada’s residence, on the other side of the rural village.

“Good thing I’m not too far now,” she noted, talking to herself absentmindedly as she ambled onwards, having left behind her Raye’s lovely blue car - as it no longer was of any help to her.

She doubted it would vex him - accidents happened - but she did feel pretty horrible about it...

Such a pity she no longer had her phone - no idea where that thing went - or she would have called to apologize. For that, as well as for something she’d done, or rather in this case, taken and shoved in her bag. The young woman was sure, if ever her father-figure knew, he would have a heart attack.

Finally catching sight of the large house looming closer, Misa, tasting blood on her tongue just after letting out a rough cough, briefly considered calling Lawliet, to let her know she was on her way, and to ask after her dear daughter-

Ah. No, she couldn’t. She didn’t have her phone. She snorted, unabashed and unladylike, her inhibitions not quite available. How silly of her to forget. Something she had **_just_** brought up.

Brushing away at the oddity, the young woman stumbled forwards, hastening her heavy steps, as she made a beeline for the front door, keys jangling in her bloodied, cold fumbling hands. And yet, despite her chattering teeth, despite her apprehension, despite her rush, Misa paused, her quivering hand hovering just seconds away from the keyhole.

“You can do this, Misa. I can do this. Of course, I can do this. I _HAVE TO_ do this. No choice. Nope, I am not scared.” rambled on the young woman, making a feeble attempt at motivating herself, before she let out a low, broken sound “...Who the fuck am I kidding? I’m **_terrified_**.”

Even so, Misa’s higher priority, surpassing by far any fears she could ever have or experience, was getting to her daughter. Only that, nothing more. No matter what would happen from here on out. No matter the outcome. No matter the result. No matter how the story would end... Hikari came first.

With that reinforced resolution strengthening her wavering resolve, she turned the key, swift, and ran inside, quick. But of all the scenes she had been anticipating or expecting to greet her, this had **_NOT_** been it.

“LAWLIET-CHAN!!!” cried out Misa in absolute horror at the sight of her dear, dear friend, beaten within an inch of his life and cruelly tied down, firm and tight, to the staircase banister “What happened?! What did he do to you-?!!”

“ ** _Amane-san_**?”

The young woman halted midway in her mad dash for Lawliet - who she was further aghast to see that he was not only bound, but gagged, his face black and blue - her eyes going wide as she quickly recognized the voice, but was unable to process the **_why_** of their presence just yet.

_‘...Him too? Was there **ANYONE** within Light’s surroundings that did NOT do his bidding?’_

“Oh, Amane-san,” let out Morello Thierry so softly, looking genuinely rueful after his initial surprise subsided “ _Why_ did you come here?”

Before she could reply or react further, the click of a gun’s hammer coming from behind her, coupled with a muffled, distressed sound from Lawliet, ignited an unutterable dread with her. And her immediate response, was to whip out from her bag a firearm of her own - _I’m sorry, Penber-san_ \- before aiming it and facing head on the one who was now mirroring her posture.

The entire world seemed to come to a sudden halt then as Misa and Light stared at each other, dead in the eye, finger firmly on the trigger, while they both pointed their guns at each other. Unblinking. Unmoving. Unfeeling.

Well, **_almost_** unfeeling, at least from Lawliet was seeing. Misa was shaking, forcing herself to not...faint? Speaking of which, what **_on earth_** had happened to her? Why was she so thrashed? 

And Yagami... As much as the goth _loathed_ the guy for his friend’s miseries, the auburn-haired male _hadn’t_ gunned Misa down yet.

So, that _had to_ mean something, right? Or was that simply wishful thinking on Lawliet’s part?

“Going to shoot me, Misa?” drawled out Light, a disbelieving smile upon his lips “... _Really_?”

“Are you gonna shoot me?” deflected the young woman in a soft whisper, not daring to blink “Tell me, Light, where did it all go wrong? What happened?”

At that, her ex-boyfriend’s features exhibited faint annoyance: “Oh, **_don’t_** start whining now. You _knew_ , Misa. You knew what I was. You’re the one who _stayed_.”

“ _You’re_ the one who didn’t want to let me go.”

Light simply laughed under his breath, before gleaming red, brown eyes narrowed: “ _Honestly_ , Misa, you’re making it sound as though I’m trying to break your heart. How dramatic of you.”

“You can’t break my heart,” she uttered, smiling without mirth, hurt bleeding from her tone, tears bleeding abundantly from her drained and agonized eyes “You **_already_** broke it, Light...”

At that, the auburn-haired male didn’t react, at all, to Misa’s heartfelt, hurtful, honest words. He did not deride. He did not laugh. He just regarded her, features blank. And so silence fell...

Until the young woman finally broke it again, like glass, her strained, raspy voice begging: “Just... Just let me go. _Please_? Let me take back Hikari, and just let us both go. I won’t even be a part of her life either - I’ll find her a nice home. **_Please_** , let Hikari come with me, Light.”

These words however had Light pause, with a gradual frown and sheer confusion flitting across his typically cold, and impeccably indifferent, features: “...She’s _not_ with me, Misa.”

With those words spoken, for once in her life, Misa, black tears streaming down her cheeks, knew true, absolute fear: “She’s not-? Wha-? _What?_ If she’s not with you... W-Where is she?”

She couldn’t breathe. Her child. Her baby. Her beloved Hikari. ...Her one and only true light.

“ _WHERE_ IS MY HIKARI??!”

Thierry, not wanting to interfere in a lover’s quarrel, took an involuntary step back, shivering at the utterly crazed, if not completely demented look now across Misa’s threatening features, while Lawliet held his breath, helpless to do anything.

But Light out and surprised everyone as he lowered his gun, and tried to get through to her, voice gentle, all-too gentle as he began carefully: “Misa, you _need_ to calm d- NO, **_DON’T_**!!!”

Given that Lawliet had been looking Light’s way, genuinely baffled by the latter’s unexpected behaviour all of a sudden, the young goth male froze when the other’s expression abruptly shifted from calm, to sheer horror.

At first, Lawliet’s initial thought was that Misa was seconds away from pulling the trigger on her ex-boyfriend. And as satisfying as that would be, he really hoped that wasn’t it, because that would not help her case any further - it could be self-defence at best, but prison at worst...

But by the time the young goth male had shifted his worried attention over to his dear friend, he **_honestly_** wished Light had been concerned about being shot. The reality was _much_ worse.

Because in fact, the truth was that Light hadn’t been shouting in panic at Misa. Not at all. The truth was that he had actually been addressing to the person _standing behind her_. 

And although she had been quick to understand what Light had meant, Misa managed to react but in the wrong way, as Teru whacked a wall mirror at her, smashing it right against her face.

Glass broke, shattering and splintering to bits and pieces, flying all over the place as violently as the impact with which it was delivered. Shards shredded at her already fairly damaged skin, adding scrapes to the scratches, blood fled from her, droplets raining around her falling form.

Misa’s battered and now limp body hit the ground hard then, like a mass obeying gravity’s absolute laws, and Lawliet’s entire existence came to a screeching halt, utterly unable to move a muscle, blink, breathe or even think.

Because Misa was no longer moving. Not a single sound. Not even a twitch. Just **_NOTHING_**.

Time itself seemed to just stop all of a sudden. And not just for the utterly shocked Lawliet. Thierry had blanched, Teru looked surprised, and Light...

Yagami Light could _easily_ declare there was not much, albeit all too little that could faze him. For reasons he did not need to share, he was detached, removed from all those around him. All in all, he just did **_NOT_** care.

And yet, right here and right now, Misa, face down on the floor, fragile, feeble frame flaccid, all belaboured, pale, bleeding out, and **_not moving_** , was a sight he couldn’t look away from...

He didn’t like...whatever it was he was feeling now. It was _very_ uncomfortable. Suffocating. For some reason. Reddish brown eyes narrowed then. Light did **not** like it at all.

Moving before he registered it, the auburn-haired male tentatively made his over to her side, pausing just a second or two before he knelt next her, and carefully flipped her onto her back. He quickly regretted his decision to do so.

On top of the damage she had received to her face via mysterious means prior to coming here, Misa’s face was gashed, a shy away from utterly destroyed, several pieces of glass protruding from skin. But worst of all, was where the largest shard had happily chosen to embed itself.

Straight within the centre of her right eye, gouging and piercing the eyeball to its very depths, gradual cruor and generous blood surrounding the offending object and flowing free.

There was _absolutely_ no way that that was salvageable. And something within Light abruptly shifted without his permission as he stared wide-eyed at his pretty ex’s ruined face.

And Misa _still_ wasn’t moving.

Again, it was something he couldn’t name nor explain, but yet again, he did **_not_** like it one bit.

He had to get rid of that feeling. Right now. Or it would consume him from the inside-out, until there would be nothing left of him.

“Look what you did, Mikami,” uttered the auburn-haired male then with an eerily empty tone, which broke the silence and stillness, and cut through the suffocating atmosphere like a knife.

“Yes, yes, I know, WONDERFUL, isn’t it?” stated Teru eagerly, genuinely proud of himself, a broad smile to his lips as he almost jumped with joy at his achievement “How grand of me, right? I freed you from this fuckin’ b-”

Thierry outright startled and Lawliet choked upon his breath, as Light shot Teru _point blank_. Without a warning, without a shift in his expression, without even looking, the auburn-haired male aimed and pulled the trigger, with the bullet piercing Teru’s skull fast, right through his mouth, freeing an explosion of blood, gore and brains, before the dark-haired male fell. Dead - oh, he was **_very_** dead, one couldn’t get more dead than that.

Except that Light didn’t stop there, firing shot after shot, in Teru’s extremely dead body. Even with all of the rounds emptied, he was still pulling upon the trigger, mechanically, repeatedly, a violent, mad glint within his eye.

_Aaaaaaah._ Much better. Now, **_this_** felt good. This was absolutely exquisite. Simply delicious. Such glorious and liberating sensations were currently flowing within him!

He wanted **more**. Needed more. _Desperately_. He needed to drown that unwanted, odd feeling, to stifle it, to make it non-existent. It had to disappear. **_Completely_**. 

Light, in his moment of insane frenzy, realized that he was presently erasing from the face of the planet someone of potential and purpose to him, but right now that did not matter to him. What mattered was that no one, NO ONE at all, be it a mere mortal or the great God himself, could touch or hurt Misa, but _him and him alone_.

His thoughts came to a sudden, brisk halt. Ah? Just now, what **_was_** that? What did that mean?

“...Yagami?”

Despite the gun being beyond empty at this point, Theirry still jumped when Light snapped, both his attention and his weapon, right onto the blond lawyer, reddish brown for eyes devoid of any sentiment or light, before drawling out slow and steady: “What is it.”

The younger male didn’t even bother to put the _slightest_ bit of inflection in his tone, chilling Thierry drastically further to his core. As if this entire cock-up hadn’t been horrific enough...

“This is all one big _fucking mess_ , you know that, right? I did **NOT** sign up for this, Yagami,” hissed the blond lawyer, wide eyes darting around widely between Misa’s body, then Teru’s, then Lawliet still tied down to the banister, head hung low as tremors ran through his body. 

Light raised an eyebrow at the older man, before his gaze lazily drifted towards the other gun. The one his ex-girlfriend had brought along with her and dropped as she fell, only to rest just a breadth away from where he sat.

Blood draining from his face, Thierry gulped, further afraid as he _immediately_ understood the other male, loud and clear. The younger male was thinking of shooting him down just as well.

He however seemed to decide against it at the very last minute, since rather than carry out his intent, he regarded the other again, tone firm: “Go after Hikari. She couldn’t have gotten far. Not in this weather. Avoid the village, she’s not there. Try down the other side.”

The older man didn’t even _consider_ defying Light, only hesitating for half a minute before he gave the brisk nod, and then headed straight for the door, taking his coat on the way.

But before he could walk out the entrance, now pried wide open, the fierce wisp of cold, winds chilling the hall, Light’s voice had him rooted in spot a moment longer: “And Morello. If she so much has a **_single_** hair out of place, I’ll bury you too.”

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Morello Thierry sneezed as he plodded on, cursing the vile cold. And Light while he was at it.

Like, why the heck was he even doing, ANY of this? Yes, the money was _good_ , but holy hell. This was quite damaging, both for himself and his career - which was already not THE best, by his fault, of course.

Quickening his pace, he squinted against the sudden receding fall of snow, looking left and right carefully, closely. Just as he was about to say ‘screw it’ and walk aware from this search, he spied a little daub of red, starkly standing out in all of the surrounding white. He grinned. _Found her._

“HEY, KID!” he called out at the top of his lungs, clicking his tongue then, when she either didn’t hear him, or just outright ignored him, in favour of trudging on “YAGAMI HIKARI!!”

 _That_ stopped the girl in her tracks immediately, and Thierry couldn’t quite tell being this far, but he was pretty sure she was glaring at him, brilliant blue sharper than ice. 

_‘Whoa, what scary eyes,’_ shuddered the man, perturbed by the fact that it was like viewing Light’s stare shine through Misa’s gaze. If he had any doubts before, he certainly didn’t now. It was still creepy though.

“Come on, kid,” he said now that he was close enough, panting out a bit due to the exertion and the weather, before holding his hand out towards her “I’m taking you to your father.”

She didn’t speak. She didn’t move, as if her feet were embedded in the snow. She only glared. “Oi, did you hear me?”

“...Please control yourself.”

Something about the girl’s commanding tone set him off: “Wha-? Brat, you talking to _ME_ -?”

“I _said_ , control yourself,” repeated Hikari, soft and firm, with Thierry realizing only now that the girl’s eyes were glazed, not at all focused on him “... ** _Please_**. Calm down. **Don’t** do it.”

Thierry’s tongue turned to lead in his mouth, eyes wide as he start to shake in his thick boots, at the sight of what was there, _right there_ , so suddenly, towering high and tall behind the girl.

A creature, a monster, a beast - he really had **_no_** other way to describe it. All grey and white. All skeletal, with long, spinal cord-like arms and formidable bone-like skin, hunched over Light’s daughter protectively.

With a bone clawed hand covering the girl’s eyes, the monster glowered at him with a single, gleaming eye of ghastly gold. A low, warning growl emanated from its parted lips of purple, revealing a wide jaw of jagged teeth. 

“I’m ok, promise. He won’t hurt me,” she said as she reassuringly patted the creature’s large hand, before smiling sweetly addressing the man she couldn’t currently see “ _Will_ you, sir?”

Heart in his throat, he tried to look away, tried to talk, tried to turn and run. But he was rooted in the spot, as the beast’s face was suddenly in his own, its mouth gaping impossibly wide.

No words came out from the dark void, glaring right back at him. And yet a voice spoke to him, unbearably loud in his mind: _‘DON’T TOUCH HER. BACK OFF. STAY AWAY. AWAY. STAY AWAY FROM MY HIKARI. JUST DISAPPEAR. DISAPPEAR. STOP BREATHING.’_

Violently suffocating on air out of nowhere, unable to scream, unable to speak, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, before Thierry suddenly dropped, scratching at his throat desperately. What was going on? What was happening? What the hell was that thing? Was he going to d-?

Blind to the world around her, Hikari could still hear, and she heard the man choking on air. She tried to look, but the hand over her eyes didn’t budge.

Only letting up after it went quiet, which led her to blink against the suddenness of the white, before witnessing the man splayed out in the snow, motionless, his face etched with horror.

Hikari stared, a frown to her features, before she sighed and put her hands on her hips, tone chiding as she addressed the monster standing behind her: “Come on, really? You didn’t have to go **that** far, you kno- Oh my God, _your eye_! What happened?!”

The little girl was horrified to see that the skeletal creature was missing an eye, a black, empty socket there instead on the right side of its face.

Startled by this, as though it hadn’t realized that until she pointed it out, the beast hurriedly hid such atrocity from her, lowering its head so its thick maggot-like dreadlocks concealed it, before adding a hand over it for good measure.

But Hikari was more worried than afraid, reaching out and clinging onto its leg as she peered up at its face, so high above her: “Is-? Are you okay?”

Its hand suddenly reached out for her, claws careful as it patted her head gently, affectionately before vanishing out of sight, much to the little girl’s confusion.

Before she could voice it however, her attention was drawn to lights of red and blue flickering just a little distance below, causing her to make a run straight for them.

Carefully sliding down the narrow slope, she found a police vehicle stationed by the side of the main road, an officers taking notes as he circled round a blue car, smashed against a tree, its front engine up in fumes, in flames. It appeared like it had only recently crashed. Perhaps.

Looking away from the car accident and ignoring the sinking feeling she had gotten at the sight of it, she made her way over to the police man: “Excuse me! Excuse me, Officer-san?”

The police man, rather young, instantly gave her his full attention, directing kind, concerned eyes her way, before kneeling down to her level as she approached him: “Why, hello there. Everything alright, little miss?”

At that, Hikari shook her head, but was quick to recall what she had been told, rummaging through her pocket and holding out a note for him: “Could you please take me to this address, sir? I- I’m lost.”

His genuinely worried look deepened as he effortlessly accepted the note and read it, blinking: “How did you get from there to here? It’s quite far.”

Shuffling her feet in the snow, she just shrugged, sincerely not knowing what to say to that. That hadn’t been in the series of questions she had rehearsed with her mother this morning.

“I- Please, I wanna go home,” she ended up saying, looking at him right in the eye and hoping he would believe her lies, but not needing to fake her tears in the least “I’m **_very_** scared, sir...”

“Oh! I’m **_so_** sorry, sweetie,” apologized the young man, panicking upon seeing big, fat tears trickling down her cheeks “Please, don’t cry! It’s ok! Hold on, I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Silently nodding her thanks as he patted her shoulder before quickly whipping out his phone, she sniffled, furiously wiping away her tears. She shouldn’t be crying. It was going to be ok. Mummy had said so. And mothers always knew best.

Hikari’s lip trembled. The tears wouldn’t stop. This wasn’t fair. Not fair at all. She **_hated_** this. It hurt. It hurt _SO_ much. NO! She didn’t want this. They were supposed to be together _forever_.

Her mother wasn’t a liar. Hikari knew that. But she also knew that her mother would always put her, her daughter, before anything else in her life. And she had. Something had happened. Something bad. Something very, very bad.

Crying even harder but careful not to make a sound, she dropped down and curled into a ball, rocking back and forth: _‘Mummy’s hurt. My mummy’s hurt. And there’s nothing I can do to-’_

A gentle touch brushed her cheek clean of tears then, and her thoughts came to a screeching halt, blue eyes going wide.

Ah. But there _was_ something Hikari could do. One thing. The only thing **_she_** had power over.

Looking up towards the monstrous being always by her side, Hikari stared straight within its warm, devoted gaze, her little hand holding onto its large one: “I’ll be okay. I’m not far now. I’ll be there in just a bit. I’ll be safe.”

The creature instantly understood the girl’s intentions, what she was asking of it, but it did not move, did not leave, leading Hikari to beg, to plead, as fresher tears shone within her eyes: “I know, I _know_ she told you to choose me over her. I know you can’t save her. But I also know you love us. **_Please_** don’t let my mother die alone. Not like this. Go back to her, please. _GO_.”

“Who are your parents, sweetie?” asked the officer all of a sudden, oblivious to the situation at hand and startling the girl right out of her skin. Hikari had completely forgotten about him.

“My father is Raye Penber,” she lied again smoothly, causing the young police man to gawk.

“The lawyer? I know of him. Didn’t know he had another kid though...”

“I’m adopted - just like the first girl,” smiled Hikari tightly which the police officer didn’t pay attention to, nodding inattentively as he returned to his call, retailing what she has just shared.

With a heavy heart, the little girl turned around, ready to make a more convincing argument to get her ‘imaginary friend’ to leave and do what she asked. Only it was no longer there. Hikari couldn’t feel it anymore, it was like a piece of her had ripped away from her soul. It was gone. Completely. For good.

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Misa _felt_ **_dead_**.

_Was_ she dead? She sincerely had no idea. If she was, it was a **very** different dead compared to all the times where she had almost died, almost killed herself or thought she had almost died...

Entire body paralyzed from a trauma she couldn’t totally recall at the moment, darkness, pain and blood was all she knew. Oh, and cold. She was cold. Numb. In pain. Bleeding out. _Dying_.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t die here. Not now. **_For Hikari_** , she had one more thing to do. Just one more.

Trying to at least breathe, the first more vivid and focused sensations that came to her then, was throbbing agony in her skull, like it had been violently bashed straight into a brick wall. Misa could even feel an abundant trickle of blood trail down her cheek... What had happened?

She made an attempt to move, and found that her body was compliant in spite of the ache and hurt, doing what was asked of it and allowing her shift quivering, unsteady hands to gingerly touch the sides of her head.

Nope. No injuries there. No blood there either. Why was the rusted and cloying scent of it so _unbearably_ strong then? As if it was right beneath her nostrils. Or like it was all over her face.

Slightly, only slightly, more conscious than earlier, but still in a sheer state of haze and daze, she decided that going on blindly wasn’t helpful at all. And so, she went to open her eyes-

She savagely bit her tongue then, to swallow the scream about to rip out her throat punitively. PainPainPain _Pain_ , oh good GOD, **_THE PAIN_**!!

What was this? _Why_ did it hurt SO much? Why couldn’t she open her eyes?! No, just _one_ eye. She _could_ open the other, but the peer pressure from the first - the right eye? she wasn’t sure - prevented her from keeping it ajar long, as she still bit her tongue and sealed her lips shut, murdering her screams - the last thing she needed right now was to draw the wrong attention.

Every single time she tried to open her eyes, her right eyelid either denied her all movement completely, or eventually allowed it, but it was systematically followed by excruciating pain. It was like dragging sandpaper under her eyelid, or digging needles into her eye, tears leaking many and free, as she fought to blink her sightlessness and pain away.

Deciding that going blind for now was her best option, if only to lessen the agony, Misa rolled over delicately before she began to crawl, careful and quiet, the gloating, deep voice nearby one she did not want to deal with just yet.

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“Well, isn’t this just _wonderful_ ,” let out Light quietly through tightly clenched teeth, eyes closed as he tried to control his breathing. And failed. 

He wanted to let it out. He needed to lash out. To wreck something. To hurt someone. How convenient that there _was_ someone, right there, ripe for the taking. 

Light opened his eyes again, immediately locking them onto Lawliet’s heaving form, as the latter furiously, madly attempted to free himself from his constrictive bindings. It was useless, of course. Because unless the goth broke the bones of his wrists, he wasn’t going anywhere.

Lawliet was raging as he fought the ropes, hating the feel of being useless, powerless. He had been called to help Misa. Not watch her wither and decay, bloody damn it all!

His movements came to an immediate halt as the barrel of a gun was in his face then, leading Lawliet to glare murderous fury up at the other, towering over him arrogantly.

“What beautiful desperation,” uttered Light, reddish brown eyes glittering pure malice before cocking his head to the side and smirking “You hate me now more, don’t you?”

Lawliet’s expression darkened, wishing he had his mouth free so he could curse the other down a few notches, when something slowly moving around, behind Light, caught his eye. And then it took all of his willpower to keep his expression from shifting. It was the least he could do.

Lawliet gagged on his breath when the muzzle of the gun was shoved in past his lips, plunging the crude gag even further down his mouth. Eyes watering at the intrusion, he stared up warily at the mad glint in those cold, reddish brown eyes: “Did I give you permission to look away? I was talking to you, Lawliet. Pay attention, would you?”

Lawliet could only shudder. This guy was completely crazy. How the hell did Misa survive him all this time, he truly had no clue. No wonder she had tried to end her life so many times. 

Pulling the gun out to the other’s relief, Light used to trace the side of Lawliet’s face, slow and deliberate in his movements, while his free hand readjusted the gag roughly.

“As I was **_saying_** , Lawliet,” drawled out Light, gripping the other male’s chin to keep the latter’s attention on him, digging his nails in when Lawliet tried to break free “In this world, there is _only_ good and evil. That was the first universal truth I grasped, from observing the world around me, when I was a child. Every human being, without exception, ends up falling into one category, or the other. Look around you, and all you will see are humans, without an ounce of humanity. Because the truth is, some humans are just genuinely bad and rotten at being human. And yet, the law is there for them, it protects them. And money is just as much power, as it can be law. Laws aren’t perfect, because humans who created laws aren’t perfect. It’s impossible to be perfect, so long as you’re human. Unless you transcend all that which is human. And become a god amongst men.”

## “ _I’m_ a human, Light.” 

## Both males snapped their attention to Misa, suddenly standing there in the hallway, like had manifested out of thin air. Only, other than the vile injuries she had sustained, the young woman was currently covered, from head to toe, in an odd gross, greasy-like liquid. 

## Lawliet and Light frowned, concerned and confused respectively. What had she done to herself? And why did she look like she was going to commit the worst deed yet? 

## “I am a human,” she repeated softly, all-too quietly, her voice not at all matching the intensity of her words “Just that. _ONLY_ that. Nothing more. But I won’t be a victim, Light. I won’t be your victim, or prey, or plaything to _fucking_ use as you see fit, whenever you want or wish it. I’m _done_. My life was cursed from inception. But at least I’ll be _her_ protection. _At least this_ , I’m sure I’ll do right. I’ll break all the conventions the world expects me to be. All I need to do now, is set my body alight. And take you with me.”

Paling, Light’s eyes went wide as he saw her produce then a box of matches out of nowhere. And it was only _then_ that he fully understood what was drenching her body, from head to toe. She had encased herself, covered herself, without a hint of hesitation, in tons of kitchen oil...

“Misa. Misa, what are you doing?” let out Light, looking genuinely horrified as he took a step forward “What **_the hell_** are you doing?! You do this, YOU’LL _NEVER_ SEE HER AGAIN!!!”

Shaking, Lawliet was staring wide-eyed. He was also SO confused. Did Light... ** _care_** for Misa? Like _actually_? Sure had a real messed up way of showing it, didn’t he?

Also, he alas had to agree. What on earth was Misa doing? Had she completely lost her mind? His heart almost stopped then. She actually **had** , hadn’t she?

A sad, but peaceful, expression adorned Misa’s face then, as she glanced straight over at her childhood friend, her only remaining beautiful, brilliant blue eye, silently telling him _‘sorry’_...

Averting her eye from Lawliet’s pleading gaze in favour of focusing back on Light entirely, she smiled at him, bright and wide, as she spoke then, her tone soft: “I might. But you _won’t_.”

White as a sheet, Light lunged forward. Misa dropped the match. Everything that came after, happened so fast, it all became a blur. He reached her, seizing her arm. Too late. The lit match brushed against her soaked clothes. Because of the oil, they instantly caught on fire, igniting in flames.

Travelling fast, the flames engulfed her body in seconds. And Light reeled back with a shout, his arm now on fire as well. He put the flames out with his free hand as quickly as he could, as the fire spread further, fast, pitilessly devouring everything it touched. It waited for **_no one_**.

Light was in faint panic, but froze completely at the sight of Misa. She was calm, eerily calm, as she just stood there, in the same spot, flames eating away at her body. She did not scream. It was like she wasn’t even burning.

Upon seeing that it was much too late to do anything for her, Light turned, racing for the door.

But Lawliet could not escape, still gagged and tied down. No matter how much he struggled, the ropes would not set him free.

The house was slowly filling up with black, suffocating smoke now, and he could not breathe. Even though his every inhale and exhale was all he could hear.

_‘Mello. Near. So sorry, both of you. I do not think I will be coming home. I am leaving early.’_

As the voracious flames drew closer and Lawliet’s entire world gradually faded to black, he could have sworn he saw hands reaching out for his face. Large, greyish hands, made of bone.

0000000000000000000000

Since Naomi was in bed, sick, oddly enough - it felt so sudden, out of nowhere; she had been fine this morning - Raye had had to call a cab, and was currently on his way back home, mind preoccupied, thoughts swirling.

He was quite worried. Worried about his wife. Worried about the case. Worried about Misa. Misa especially right now. _Especially_ since she wasn’t answering her phone. Was she alright? Where had she gone? Would she be alright? What was-?

_‘I promise, you’ll understand...why.’_

The lawyer paused then, as he suddenly remembered the moment when the young woman had handed him the letter. The letter that was within his pocket. The letter that he had yet to read.

As he retrieved and opened it, Raye’s cell phone went off, leading him to reply as quickly as he could, not even looking at the number, expecting the call to either be from his wife or from his daught- or from Misa.

“Hello?”

“Penber Raye-san?”

Upon hearing a young male’s voice and assuming it was work-related, the lawyer focused on the letter instead, while replying distractedly: “Yes, that’s me.”

“This is Officer Matsuda, sir,” intoned the voice politely “We have your daughter with us, sir, at the station. She is safe and sound. Hikari, right? Could you please come pick her up?”

Those words had Raye’s hair stand on end, eyes wide as his hand, holding the letter, shook: “...Th-Thank you, I- I’m on my way.”

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_With nothing but a candlelight, four teenagers sat in a circle on Halloween’s Eve in Takada’s home, telling each other’s ghost stories, or creepy personal experiences. Then Misa’s turn came up._

_“You were part of a cult?” exclaimed Shiori, gawking at her friend in awe “That’s SO cool!”_

_Kiyomi, on the other hand, quivered, but not due to the cold: “You think? That’s a bit scary.”_

_“It was! That’s why I left,” mentioned Misa, embarrassed at being in the centre of attention._

_“But why **did** you leave, Misa?” inquired Light, reddish brown eyes glittering with interest “Really?”_

_“Things were getting a bit...” she trailed off a bit, looking away to the side, gaze dimming at memories she would rather not have to revisit again “I knew I **had to** leave. I don’t regret it.”_

_“Good thing you did too,” shivered Kiyomi, expecting her tone and words to bring this **horrid** conversation to an end, but Light, for some reason, seemed to be really, REALLY interested. _

_“Did you learn anything interesting there? Like what was your doctrine? Any philosophies?”_

_Whereas Shiori eargerly leaned forward, Kiyomi sincerely looked horrified: “ **Yagami-kun**!!”_

_“I don’t mind, Kiyomi-chan,” said Misa gently, glancing Light’s way shyly, before blushing a bit at the intrigue in his gaze “Well, um... I never paid attention, actually. I was just happy to find a place I was comfortable, and just be myself. So, not much to say? Sorry, Yagami-kun.”_

_The only male present within the room did not hide his disappointment, so Misa was quick to bring up something up, if only to interest him and seek his approval: “But there WAS this one thing, a saying, or a motto if you will. ‘For a life to be sustained, a death must be ordained.’”_

_While Kiyomi shuddered and Light perked up, Shiori was confused: “What does that mean?”_

_The blonde female teen thought of simple way to put it, her next bringing a moment of silence: “It’s like...a life for a life, kind of. If they wish for someone to live, they need to die for them.”_

_“That’s AWESOMELY creepy though,” grinned Shiori then, brimming bright with nervous energy, which Kiyomi didn’t agree with at all, if her appalled features were anything to go by._

_“That’s **morbid** , Shiori.”_

_“That’s...quite interesting, actually,” intoned Light slowly with an air of awe, eyes glittering “And why did this stick with you, Amane-chan?”_

_“I don’t know. I think it’s beautiful,” confessed Misa gently, ignoring her company’s staring in favour of gazing out at the moonlight “Loving someone so much, you would die for them.”_

Lawliet, drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, awoke with a violent start. Springing straight into a seated position, he shuddered within his own skin, as his beating heart thundered hard...

He was in a state of complete devastation, staring down at his shaking hands, his gaze blurred, all of his thoughts muddled, running over one another.

The first realization he had, was that he was alive. _Alive_? Really? Huh. **_That_** was unexpected. The second thing to come to his attention after that, was that earlier memory, dream, whatever it had been, was not possible. He could not relive something he had _never_ lived. It wasn’t **his**.

That instantly led a sense of dread to seep throughout his veins, heart plummeting to his gut. This was not good- No, that was an understatement. It was a tragedy. Torment. Pure torture...

_‘This cannot be real. This did not happen. No way. I am dead too. There is no way I survived.’_

A chill ran down his spine then, leading him to snap his darkened gaze to his surroundings, his breath hitching loud within his throat. He was no longer within Takada’s residence. But he knew this room.

Burgundy walls, carrot-coloured curtains, checker tiles for a floor, a Goth air, creepy elements garnishing the bedroom here and there... This was Misa’s room, her old room - he instantly recognized it, due to all the Skype calls they would have, after he left back for England again. And if Lawliet wasn’t wrong, this room should be-

The door opened then and a dark-haired woman, looking a bit sickly, peered at him, frowning.

Penber Misora Naomi, carefully regarded the young male, who had appeared in Misa’s room all of a sudden, upon her bed, out of absolutely nowhere, smelling of smoke and fire. She had initially entered her daughter-figure’s room, looking for something specific only to find him...

If she had ever come to believe in the supernatural like Misa did, Naomi would assume that this guy was a demon, summoned from another dimension or something.

Of course that was completely and utterly ridiculous. But the woman still had _no clue_ how he just appeared here, without her hearing or seeing him, with all the doors and windows intact. How did he even get here? Who was he? What had happened to him? Where was he from? And why did he look like road kill?

“Do you know who you are?” inquired the woman carefully, regarding him cautiously as she deposited a glass of water upon the table beside him, before taking a step back “Your name?”

“My name’s El. El Lawliet.”

“Your accent,” noted the dark-haired woman easily, eyeing him closely “You’re a foreigner.”

“And you are Penber-san’s wife,” he returned evenly, leading Naomi’s expression to reveal faint astonishment, which only furthered when Lawliet shifted to bow down at her cordially “Thank you, _so much_ , for being there for Misa. All this time.”

Luckily making the connection between his name and that close friend her foster daughter would never name, Naomi’s breath quickened: “Where is she? Where’s Misa? Do you know? Have you seen her? Raye called me. Misa took off, no warning, no news, no nothing. What-?”

_‘She is gone. Just gone. That house... It- It burned to the ground. All of it. Misa along with it.’_

Lawliet could not utter those words. He didn’t need to. His silence and agonized expression, was all the woman needed to know in turn. 

Naomi’s legs gave out underneath her brusquely then, and she dropped down to the ground, face falling in her shaking hands as she let out a soft, muffle wail. Lawliet didn’t move, or say a word, burying head in his propped up knees. There was nothing to do or say.

In their morose and macabre grief, neither heard when the front door opened and footsteps resounded in the hall, before Raye and Hikari appeared, peeking around the doorframe.

Upon seeing the anguish on his wife’s and the unknown male’s face, he was quick to ask the girl to go get herself something to eat in the kitchen - on the other side of the hall - making sure she was out of earshot, before walking in and closing the door behind him: “Are you...? Lawliet-chan?”

Hearing the childish nickname only one person in the whole world had used to address him, Lawliet snapped his attention to the older male, noticing the latter’s awfully red, swollen eyes.

“I- She gave me a letter. I apologize for reading before either of you. Here,” said Raye softly, shakily holding out the crumpled letter for Lawliet to take “I think you should read it first. Naomi? Let’s give him some space.”

Gathering his sobbing wife within his arms, they both made their way out, leaving Lawliet by himself in the now even colder room to read the words written out in Misa’s neat handwriting.

_To Penber-san, Naomi-san and Lawliet-chan, the only family I have ever had,_

_If you’re reading this, then please know there is a possibility none of you will ever see me alive again. It has occurred to me that Light will stop at nothing to get to Hikari, so I have no choice but to stop him myself._

_While I am not afraid of death, I do fear for my daughter’s safety, given Light does not see her as his child, but rather as a means to an end, an extension of something he could achieve. I would share what that means, but that is, alas, not something I can explain in words alone, as it is so much more and far beyond the concept of what we can perceive as humans._

_Hikari, my baby girl, is a beautiful, bright little girl who deserves much more than being stuck between two parents, clawing at each other for the right to either look after her or own her. Which is why I ask you, a final favour, if you would kindly, you has been by my side, during the ups and downs, despite all my secrets, despite all my flaws..._

_If I am no longer of this world, please watch over Hikari for me. I would have asked Lawliet, the friend I ran away with and never named to you, but he’s already got two brothers to care for and just so much on his hands already, I could not burden him._

_And I know this is no burden to you. You and Naomi-sensei could never have children of your own, therefore you both kindly treated and loved me as your own daughter. And, despite how ungrateful I may have seemed, I truly cherished every moment._

_So, please, I ask you as a friend, as a child you raised when you didn’t have to and no one else wished to, please look after Hikari like you looked after me. I know she will be loved and care for, as you have loved and care for me._

_All my love,_

_Amane Misa_

Bright tears were falling down before he could register them, or even allow their existence, his wide gaze stapled to the paper in his quivering hands, before he put a hand over his eyes, teeth clenched until his gum bled. Misa knew. Somehow, this was actually worse to find out...

“L-chan?”

He instantly looked up, and brilliant, blue eyes, eyes so like this young girl’s mother, met his.

_‘Please, please, don’t let my mother leave.’_

Chest constricting painfully, Lawliet got up and went over to her, kneeling down before her, his quiet tone voice brittle, strangled: “I am sorry. I am **_so_** sorry, kid.”

Hikari quickly shook her head at his apology, a wobbly smile to her sad face: “Not your fault. Mummy wouldn’t have changed her mind.”

“...You knew?”

“I knew. **_She_** told me,” she uttered, and Lawliet assumed Hikari was talking about her mother.

When tears threatened to spill then, he delicately took her small figure within his warm arms, and then she clung onto him, like a lifeline, crying into his shoulder.

“You will be alright. I promise. We will **all** watch over, and care for you, Hikari. For Misa.”

Blue eyes blinking open, and chasing all the tears away, Hikari gasped, beaming bright as she smiled from ear to ear, upon looking up and seeing a familiar being, standing there near them. High and tall. Whitish grey and skeletal. Warm and loving. 

Upon hearing the little girl’s breath hitch so loudly, Lawliet turned around to look over at what she had seen, before stilling in absolute astonishment, dark gaze going incredibly wide.

It was the ‘imaginary friend’, towering over them, and for some reason, Lawliet could **_see_** it. Not as a shadow, or as an unclear figure. He _could_ actually see it.

And upon looking up at its face, which would have inspired fear in so many others, he gaped, unable to believe his eyes, as tears fell down his cheek, too shocked for thoughts, or words: “You- You’re...”

**Seven years later.**

Amane Hikari readjusted her glasses, fairly annoyed by their existence as she looked upwards. It was snowing. Honestly, she hadn’t been expecting that at all. Not today, at _this_ time of year. Though it was almost poetic, she would have to say.

Shuffling her feet as she waited, rather impatient to get this over with, she looked around her, though there was really nothing to look at. Not when she was standing in front of a building, in the middle of nowhere, as cold and desolate in its appearance as in its existence.

She had never visited a prison before, never needed to, never wanted to... Even less _this_ one. But she wasn’t here for the sake of being here. Hikari had...unfinished business to attend to, something she could have done at the sweet, tender age of nine. But had **never** been ready for. Not even now.

The main doors opened, and the young sixteen-year-old girl was finally able to get in, halting at the front security for questions and clearance. The old, boring desk stuff found **_everywhere_**.

Once all was done and dealt with, the guard cleared his throat as he addressed his colleague: “Granting entrance to a Yagami Hika-”

“Amane.”

“...Excuse me?”

“My name,” clarified the young girl, resisting the urge to roll her eyes “It’s **_Amane_** Hikari.”

The guard seemed truly confused, looking over the paper work again: “Aren’t you here for-?”

Blue eyes narrowed at him coldly, causing him to warily recoil from behind his glass screen. “What or why or who I am here for is none of your concern, sir. What _should_ be your concern is not messing up people’s names. And I wrote AMANE Hikari. _So_ , if you would kindly...”

Swallowing nervously, the guard gave her a tip of his head as he quickly opened to the door for her before any further fuss.

“Apologies, miss.”

Hikari didn’t bother a reply, not needing her nerves to be more jostled than they already were. She needed a clear head, damn it.

Walking down a long corridor in the company of another guard, she made her way to a room, with a large glass panel right in the middle, with phone booth-like compartments, each with a seat and a desk. On the other side of the glass, was mirrored the exact same yet a tad grimmer.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she made her way to the furthest booth she could find available, and sat down, before she began thumping her foot up and down, as she fidgeted in her seat. Again, she did not want to be here, but she _had to_.

Hikari owed it after all, to the one and only who had given it her all, who had given so much, just for her. That thought soothed her, and so she steeled herself for what was about to come. And who she had to face.

She didn’t have to wait long, because barely minutes after calming her nerves, a door opened on the other side of the glass, before a guard led a man in and towards the booth facing hers. Hikari, stiff and silent, stared.

He had not changed since she last saw him. And she had not seen him for over seven years. That had been her surrogate parents’ decision, Penber and Naomi both following her mother’s will to keep him as far away as possible from her - which Hikari had **_NO_** complaints about.

The young girl only wished she had been more mentally prepared to actually see him again. Not because she was afraid. But because she was **_angry_**.

She was tempted to break the glass - which she knew was unbreakable, duh - run over to him, and throttle the life right out of him. After what he did. After every single, damn thing he had ever done.

A calm and gentle warmth suddenly washed over her, softly ridding Hikari of her lividness, and causing her lips to quick up into a smile as she relaxed into the sensation blanketing her. She was going to be alright. She was never alone after all.

Dressed in his prison attire, shackled at his wrists and ankles, the man, with light, brown hair, exactly like Hikari’s, and cold, reddish brown eyes, sat down in front of her, taking her in for a moment, before reaching for the phone as soon as she did so.

“Hello, Hikari.”

The girl kept her entire expression blank, but inside she was screaming at the top of her lungs. He had the GALL to be all nonchalant and at ease?

“Whazzup?” she grinned wide, without any mirth or sincerity, before whistling briskly as she made a show of taking his poorly dressed and ill-groomed state in “You look like **_utter_** shit.”

Unperturbed by her attitude, Yagami Light’s lips quirked faintly upwards: “I’ve been better.”

While her forced smile remained firmly embedded within her features, her bright, blue gaze cut like ice, whilst her tone became glacial, arctic: “ _Been better_ implies that you were good. You were never _good_. There is **_no_** good in you.”

“Isn’t that irrelevant?”

“You tell me. _Is_ it?”

Mind games. And manipulation. The only two things her father had indirectly taught her, yet the only teachings she was genuinely grateful for. They had never failed her. But unlike him, she _solely_ used it against those who **truly** deserved it.

“Say, how is it?” she asked then, changing the subject as she glanced behind him at the rest of the prison she had no visual over, before locking eyes with him then, tone glacial once more “In **_there_**?”

“Boring. Not for long, as you know. Which is why you are here, I imagine. Trying to get me to say something that’ll keep me in here longer, hm,” drawled out Light with a patronizing smile as he eyed the recorder clutched in hand, and which she had yet to switch on “You and I both know that won’t do a thing. I will be getting out. **Soon**. And there’s _nothing_ you can d-”

“Aren’t you going to ask?” interrupted his daughter sharply, her eyes impossibly colder now.

The auburn-haired male tilted his head a slight, feigning a confusion he did not feel: “About?”

Hikari sneered, disgusted: “ _Really_? I know mighty you doesn’t care about _anyone_ but himself. Just tell me this. Ever cared about Mum? Ever **_felt_** for her, hm?”

He titled his head faintly as he observed her closely, not uttering a word, with his daughter immediately mirroring the gesture, leading to an intense, silent stare down, neither blinking, neither looking away.

Light regarded at his daughter, his own flesh and bone that looked so much more like him, than she ever did his ex - with the exception of her brilliant blue, blue eyes. Which is why he couldn’t understand, why Hikari was nearly nothing like him personality-wise. She did have his acuity, acumen and wit, but she also had an in-depth capacity for emotion - that she could have only gotten from her mother - which he did not have. Or comprehend. Or need.

And that’s why since Hikari was his daughter, his child, his, she didn’t need any of that either. They couldn’t, shouldn’t develop feelings, ever. That was how most imbeciles screwed up. After all, emotions were complex, convoluted, cloying, crushing...

Look what they had done to Misa in the end. He didn’t let anything show, his features set in stone, but something within him cracked, as he recalled the sight of his ex-girlfriend burning alive. Like dying was better than being with him.

He clenched his jaw discreetly, brimming with lethal rage beneath the surface. How dare she? How **_dare_** she throw it all away?

After _all_ he did for her, moulding her to be something, to be more than a poor, rejected nobody, living off loneliness and fear. He had provided her with everything she could ever require. She simply had to obey him. So _where_ did it all go wrong? 

Misa and Hikari both _belonged to **him**_ , two calculated extensions of his own ideal existence. Why was that so hard to understand?

“You should know the answer to that question, Hikari,” he finally replied, finality in his tone.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t. I’ve taken it all from **_every_** possible angle. And I _still_ don’t get it. If you _never_ loved her, _never_ felt for her, _never_ cared for her, why be with her at all? And do **not** even think about spouting bullshit about it being all for the sake of having a legacy? You could have up and picked someone else, anyone else - better yet, that witch of a woman, Takada, since you **_already_** _were_ with her. _Why_ Mum?”

“Because I was _bored_ ,” drawled out Light simply, which lead his daughter’s eyes to widen, not expecting that at all “Do you know what deadly boredom is, Hikari? Most of the time, most days, I feel nothing. I don’t feel _anything_. It’s all just SO... _boring_. I wake up and I think, ‘Again? Really? I have to do this _AGAIN_?’ And what I really don’t understand is how come everyone else isn’t **screaming** with boredom, too. I try, I _really_ try, to find ways to make myself feel something. More, and more, and more... But it doesn’t make a difference. No matter what I do, I don’t feel anything. I feel **nothing**. I hurt others, it _doesn’t_ hurt. I buy what I want, I don’t _want_ it. I do what I like, I don’t _like_ it. I’m just so, _so_ bored.”

Hikari gaped at the one she refused to call her father, a specific memory from her childhood fitting perfectly, to vividly describe the man seated opposite of her, behind the glass screen.

 _‘They pose as humans, even though they have no understanding of what humans truly are. They do not know a thing about trust, truth, love... Bored out of their minds, simply doing things for the sake of doing them. They are just...empty. Hollow. That is the scariest thing about them,’_ had said Lawliet to her once, so very long ago, but she recalled those words well.

“...You’re a monster,” uttered Hikari eventually, with a blank, broad smile, almost elated that she could confirm this, and that the man hadn’t changed one bit. **_Good_**.

Light laughed at that, amused: “And you, my darling Hikari, are the daughter of said monster. So what does that say about _you_?”

“What it says about me?” she echoed, grin becoming even wider, abruptly lethal “I’ll tell you what it is says about me. I am my _mother’s_ daughter. I always have been, always will be. I am **NOTHING** like you. I refuse to be like _you_. Or be you. I am not you. And I’ll _never_ be you.”

Light stared at all of the emotion radiating from his daughter, who had stood up mid-speech so much was the passion of her words, before Hikari’s declared proudly: “I am what my Mum wanted me to be. _Me_. I am me. And I’m here today to deliver what was promised to you.”

That last sentence had him frowning, visibly quite confused: “...What are you talking about?”

“You’re **_never_** going back to the outside world,” swore Hikari, looking down her nose at him, as though he was something absolutely repulsive “This is the _fear_ that was promised to you, Yagami Light. Goodbye, we will never meet again.”

With those words as her last ones to him, his daughter stood up and turned his back on him, before she leisurely began walking away, the moment feeling like an instance of slow-motion.

But as she left, something stood in her place, appearing out of nowhere, staring down at him. And Light just about felt his heartbeat come to an end.

_“What’s this?” asked Light, as he bent down to pick up a piece of paper that had just fallen from a box Misa was carrying - since she was in the middle of moving in to live with him now._

_Arching an eyebrow, he eyed what looked like a sketch, not too recent, but not too old either. It appeared to be depicting a child, curled up on herself in the bottom centre of the page, dark hands of deformed, shadow-like beings reaching out for her._

_But none of them could touch her, as she was being towered over a tall, skeletal like being, cocooning her within the haven of its presence, in spite of its utterly terrifying appearance._

_It was probably the most striking feature of the sketch, especially since Light had this eerie yet irrational feeling that the creature was glaring right at him menacingly. Those ghastly golden eyes could literally be the embodiment of the expression ‘If looks could kill...’_

_Embarrassed, and concerned for some reason, she was quick to pluck the drawing from him, holding it close to her chest and looking away: “Just- Just a character I made up as a kid.”_

_“...OTHREMI?”_

_Light knew Misa had been more or less illiterate until very recently, but this was quite tragic, yet he didn’t voice that and instead let out lightly, smiling fake: “An imaginary friend, is it?”_

_“She,” corrected Misa, beaming brightly like a child “More like, a better me. An Other Me.”_

_“That’s a mouthful. You should just call her...REM.”_

Whiter than white, Light, wild panic in his eyes, shot up to his feet, backing away from it. From **_her_**. From REM.

But he didn’t get far, the shackles to his ankles tripping him the ground, gracelessly, loudly, leading his surroundings to stare his way, befuddled. What the heck was up with this inmate, all of a sudden? He looked like he had seen a ghost.

But the truth was, he actually kind of had. Invisible to anyone else, REM advanced towards him slowly, taking her sweet time, phasing straight through the glass like it did not exist.

Light was having trouble breathing now, feeling like a rat in a cage - he had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. No one would help him. No one could save him. He was trapped, and alone. With no one else but REM, now crouched down before him, her face a breadth away from his.

Paralysed, petrified, practically mute, he could not look away from that one ghastly, gold eye, as a voice then, rang loud and violent within his head, penetrating his mind with brutal force.

_‘SCREAM FOR ME.’_

And scream he did.

Only just outside of the visitation room, Hikari stopped in her tracks, stiffening as she heard Light’s sheer and absolute terror being made known to the entire prison at the top of his lungs.

“Whoa. I think you should’ve him checked into a mental institute, or something. Maybe even an asylum,” suggested Hikari with unrestrained glee, earning a chill or two from the guards standing by the door, before she shook her head with false sympathy “Poor ol’ man’s lost his damn marbles.”

As more guards rushed to that man’s side, **_still_** screaming, louder and louder, Hikari inhaled deeply and carried on making her way to the exit, not bothering to look behind her. Not even once.

Back out in the real world, Hikari breathed in the fresh air, a sense of relief she desperately needed, for near seven years now, finally granted to her. She felt at peace, at ease. Complete.

With that weight off of her shoulders, she dashed off to the car waiting for her in the parking lot, smiling wide at the three that had accompanied her here.

“So? How did it go?” asked Lawliet casually, feigning disinterest, as she jogged up to them, a bit breathless.

But she knew better. Of course he would want to know, given everything from back then - he wouldn’t have been the first to ask otherwise.

At first, Hikari’s expression were blank, before she cracked up, laughing: “Like a _SCREAM_!!”

As Lawliet grinned right back, looking both relieved and pleased, Mihael shivered and took as wary step back from the girl: “Creepy kid. Don’t be fucking happy about something like _that_. That’s fucking messed-up.”

“But you still love me, Mello-chan, right?”

“As if,” he snorted with a roll of his eyes, blatantly ignoring the puppy eyes she was making. That look should be illegal, damn it.

Giggling at his discomfort, Hikari’s smile then abruptly fell, wanting to look behind her, but knowing it was best she didn’t. She would no longer be seeing anything - anyone - if she did.

“We’ll wait for you in the car, if you need a moment, Hikari,” smiled Nate gently, before the three Lawliet brothers politely gave her some privacy, all of them piling up into their vehicle.

But before Lawliet did so, he turned to glance at Hikari, and nodded at her to look behind her.

Snapping her head around at the speed of almost getting a whiplash, the young girl burst into tears of happiness: “Hiya, REM! No, I’m not- Ok, yeah, I am crying. Just a bit. But it’s ok!!”

REM didn’t seem convinced, her large, bony hand reaching out to cup Hikari’s cheek gently, prompting the latter to immediately latch on to that hand, and smile: “I’ll be alright, swears. I’m a BIG girl now. Sixteen and all. And I’m well taken care of. There’s Penber-san and his wife. And L-chan. And his brothers. _And_ Mel-chan’s boyfriend. They’re all SO great to me.”

At that REM’s features softened, hand carding through the grown girl’s long, auburn locks. Hikari relaxed into the familiar gesture, closing her eyes as she nuzzled the hand. But the tears wouldn’t stop.

“You know, you don’t have to do this,” offered Hikari softly, a shy away from pleading as she opened her eyes again and stared up at the other “You can move on. You don’t need to waste your time here. On **_him_** of all people. You deserve so much better.”

Without a word, REM knelt down and carefully gathered the girl within her large, long, bony arms, and Hikari melted into the embrace, hugging the other with everything she had in her: “I’m going to miss you.”

After a moment that regrettably was not long enough, the gentle giant pulled away, brushing away Hikari’s tears with the back of her hand, tender and careful in her handling, before she slowly, steadily, soundlessly began walking away, back towards the prison.

“But I’ll never forget!” called out Hikari with a warm smile, tone strong in spite of her tears “I’ll _never_ forget you! I’ll ALWAYS love you, promise!! ...Thank you for everything, Mum.”

A gust of cold white wind briskly swept by then, REM’s form crumbling to dust, and revealing a smiling Misa for a single split second, before they both vanished, becoming one with the white, white snow.

**The End.**

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I don’t think a single story has ever drained SO MUCH from me before. I mean, I am fairly passionate when I write, sure, but this fic was on a whole other level for me; it’s very... personal - it holds keys, hints, all buried in and subtly explaining the inspirations for this fic. I wanted to write this maybe two years ago? But never had the time, inspiration or patience to - heck, it has been a real struggle, almost making me lose my mind, and sink into depression. So really, I am genuinely glad it is now finally out of my mind. This fic has been a nightmare.  
> Please do not hesitate to contact me for any questions/thoughts you may have. Please stay safe, ladies, gents and everyone else X3 I’ve been Seth’s Kiss, and thank you for reading X3 Bye !!


End file.
